


Tightrope

by Madaboutagirl



Category: Supercat - Fandom, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Danvers Sisters, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Investigays, Misunderstandings, Sanvers on slow burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8544739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madaboutagirl/pseuds/Madaboutagirl
Summary: Loosely based in Season 2. Kara decides to take Mon-El under her wing. Kara and Lena get close. Alex and J'onn discover that Lex Luthor isn't on Stryker's Island but instead has been transferred to Cadmus, leading both agents to believe that Lena is being used as bait for Supergirl. Cat questions everything! SuperCat is endgame.





	1. Mentoring Mon-El

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to wait until this was finished to post but I judging by my last several stories that are unposted and unfinished, I decided to post this one in progress to fully commit to finishing it. The good news is that it's written ahead, so I will post new chapters as they are edited. I promise you that SuperCat is endgame.

"Kara are you sure about this?" Alex asks, carefully eyeing her sister. They are sitting in a conference room at the DEO waiting for J'onn to sign off on Kara taking Mon-El home with her.

"Yeah, it's the right thing to do Alex. He needs to adjust to being in this world and I am the only one who can help him do that and keep him safe," Kara replies earnestly.

"Kara, it's just... Well, you've never lived with anyone but me and that apartment isn't very big," Alex points out.

Kara takes a deep breath. Alex has a point there she realizes.

"We'll just have to figure it out. He can sleep on the couch and it's temporary," Kara counters.

"What about work?" Alex asks.

"I'll get him a job at CATCO, I'm sure that he can be an intern or something," Kara replies.

"I hope that you're right," Alex answers.

"Hey, what happened with Maggie? I figured you guys would be out celebrating last night," Kara remarks.

"Uh, she had other plans," Alex stammers and then looks up relieved to see J'onn entering the room.

"Kara, are you sure about this? He's going to be a handful, you saw what he talked Winn into," J'onn reminds her.

"I'm not Winn and I know what I'm getting into. I've been in his shoes J'onn. I've got this," Kara replies confidently.

"Make sure that you check in regularly, if you miss one check in, we're going to assume you need help," he points out.

"I know," Kara says standing up to leave. "Alex, are you coming over later?" she asks turning back to her sister.

"Uh, yeah sure. I'll bring pizza," Alex says smiling, "Wait does he eat like you do?" She asks.

"Not quite, but better get a couple for each of us," Kara answers with a grin.

"Okay, so where are we going?" Mon-El asks as they head out of the DEO.

"Back to my apartment," Kara answers over her shoulder.

"Does this mean that I am staying with you? What exactly is an apartment?" Mon-El questions.

"Yes, you'," Kara replies.

"So we're going to live together?" Mon-El asks, a bit confused.

"Yes, we will live together while I'm helping you adjust to Earth," Kara reminds him.

"Oh, wow. I've never lived with a girl before," he remarks. "Or a Kryptonian," he adds teasingly.

"Well, I've never lived with anyone but my sister, so it will be new for both of us," Kara points out.

"I'm in your hands," Mon-El adds as they step out of the DEO together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Alex is walking up to Kara's building carrying several pizza boxes when her phone rings. She sets the pizzas down on the stoop and slips her phone out of her pocket, then noticing that it's Maggie she debates a moment whether to answer it.

"Danvers," she says quickly deciding to take the call.

"Hey, I was hoping to cash in that rain check from last night?" Maggie asks playfully.

Alex shakes her head, "Ah, sorry Sawyer, I'm busy tonight," she replies flatly.

Maggie looks down at the ground, she kind of expected this response after what happened with Michelle last night.

"Another time then," Maggie suggests hopefully.

"Sure, another time," Alex agrees as she ends the call.

"Hey Alex," Mon-El says opening the door for her and taking the pizza boxes.

"Hi," Alex says entering and closing the door behind her. Taking a moment to slip off her jacket and hang it on the rack, then thinking better of it, she reaches into the pocket and removes her phone.

"Expecting a certain detective to call?" Kara teases as she greets her sister.

"Definitely not. Besides, she already called and I told her that I was busy tonight," Alex answers pulling out of the hug.

"Oh," Kara says looking over at Mon-El, who is more interested in the pizza than what the two sisters are talking about.

The two sisters smile as they watch him set the boxes down and immediately start opening them to see the options.

"This is so good," he exclaims as he quickly grabs a slice and takes a bite.

"Hey, get a plate and a napkin," Alex says taking it from him and plopping it on a plate and handing it back to him. Then she stuffs a napkin in his hand as well.

"What is this?" He asks gesturing to the pizza.

"Pizza," Kara replies her eyes twinkling. "It's the best food on this planet," she adds with a big grin as she grabs a slice out of another box and takes a bite.

Alex rolls her eyes and shoves a plate and napkin at her. "Kara, I'm not sure that you are the best role model for him," she jokes.

"Hey," Kara protests. "He'll learn everything that he needs to from me!"

"I'm not holding my breath," Alex says handing each of them a bottle of water from the fridge and then grabbing herself a beer.

Mon-El sets his pizza down and trades the water in for a bottle of beer and then watches Alex twist off the cap.

"Wait!" Alex says quickly. "Let me show you how to do that without breaking the bottle," she adds as she takes the bottle from him. Then she reaches into the drawer and pulls out a bottle opener. "You should use this to open them, it took Kara a long time to be able to twist them open without breaking them," she says as she pops the cap off and hands the bottle back to him.

After they finish the pizza, Kara notices that Alex is still fiddling with her phone and Mon-El is not really interested in the TV, so she stands up. "Okay, we're going out," she exclaims reaching over to grab the phone from Alex.

"Awesome," Mon-El replies jumping up from the chair.

Alex moves it out of her reach, "I don't think so, that's not a good idea Kara," she adds before slipping her phone into the pocket of her jeans.

"Are you kidding? It's a great idea and there's two of us to keep an eye on him," Kara points out.

"Well, that is true. Okay, but just one drink," Alex says looking at the two of them. "And no shenanigans," she adds glaring at Mon-El.

"Absolutely not," he agrees quickly as Alex heads over to get her jacket.

"Uh, Kara what is a shenanigan?" He whispers.

Laughing, she shakes her head. "You know what happened when you and Winn went out? None of that tonight, okay?" She replies.

"Sure," he nods and smiles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bourbon, neat," Alex says as she sits down at the bar.

"Beer," Mon-El says sitting down next to her.

"White wine," Kara says taking the stool beside him.

"Alex is that Maggie over there?" Kara says nodding towards the pool table in the back of the bar.

"Damn," Alex swears softly to herself.

"You should go over there and say hi," Kara suggests helpfully. She has noticed Alex's crush on the detective.

"No, I definitely should not do that," Alex replies taking a long sip of her drink and trying not to look over there to see who Maggie's with.

"Who is Maggie?" Mon-El asks looking from Alex to Kara for an answer.

"Detective Sawyer, she works for another agency, she's a colleague," Alex answers nodding over towards the dark haired detective at the pool table.

"Alex has a thing for her, well actually, I think it's a mutual thing," Kara explains.

"What does that mean? Have a thing for her?" Mon-El asks.

"They are attracted to each other," Kara explains realizing that she needs to do better at explaining this type of stuff to him.

"Oh," he remarks and takes another sip of his beer.

Alex wordless shoots Kara a death glare, but Kara just smiles because the detective is approaching.

"Guess, we'll know soon enough," Kara replies smugly.

"Danvers," Maggie says as she approaches the trio. "And baby Danvers... and who are you?" she adds looking Mon-El over carefully.

"He's just my uh, cousin... Mike" Kara offers quickly.

"Mike. Maggie Sawyer," the slender detective says holding out her hand to Mon-El, who looks confused by the gesture.

"Oh, he has a cold, you really don't want to shake his hand tonight," Alex says quickly.

"O-kay," Maggie says glancing at Alex carefully. "I didn't realize that you had family in town," she adds.

"Yeah, well why would you?" Alex retorts a bit sharply, now feeling a bit anxious under Maggie's gaze.

"Mike, we should check out the jukebox," Kara says grabbing his shirt and pulling him after her.

Alex watches them leave before turning to look at Maggie.

"What are you doing here at this bar?" Alex asks her.

"I'm playing pool with friends," Maggie replies taking a seat beside her. "What you worried that I'm stalking you? Maybe you're stalking me and for the record, I would mind it," she teases.

"Why do you do that? Why do say stuff like that? T-That flirty stuff?" Alex snaps.

"Whoa, Danvers. Is that what you think I was doing? Flirting with you?" Maggie responds feigning innocence.

Alex freaks out a moment, oh crap, have I really misread this? She immediately thinks to herself.

Maggie watches her and then laughs softly.

"You're messing with me again," Alex replies angrily glaring at the other woman.

The detective apologizes, "Sorry Danvers. I guess I can't help it. I like messing with you," she says as she shoots the other woman a dangerously flirty look before motioning to the bartender to refill Alex's glass and get her another beer.

"Why? Why do you do that?" Alex stammers annoyed and frustrated.

"Do what exactly?" Maggie asks feigning innocence.

"Flirt with me when you, you have a girlfriend," Alex protests.

"Ah, well I don't have a girlfriend any more," Maggie replies with a sigh.

"W-what happened?" Alex asks genuinely concerned.

"She dumped me. Apparently aliens and meta-humans freak her out, she actually asked me if I would get a different job," Maggie exclaims taking a long drink of her beer.

"I'm sorry Maggie. But it, it's her loss. You deserve better than that," Alex points out taking a sip of her drink.

"Maybe, but still feels like a punch to the gut," Maggie counters. "I thought she was... well never mind. I was wrong, obviously," the brunette says looking down.

Not wanting to dwell on it, Maggie gestures over to Kara and Mon-El. "Tell me, is that really her cousin?" She asks as they both watch the couple laughing together, Mon-El draping an arm across the back of Kara's chair.

Alex watches the couple a moment, taking time to let her head switch gears before responding. "Not exactly, but close enough. Look, he's new to the city and she's helping him. It's a long story," she finally replies. And then realizes that she's probably said too much, she takes a sip from her glass, realizes that it's empty, she looks around for the bartender, then notices the other drink.

"Hmm," Maggie murmurs into her beer smiling amused at the annoyed brunette.

"Uh, I was supposed to buy you a drink," Alex points out.

"Next time," Maggie says standing up and setting the empty bottle down on the bar. "See you around Danvers," she adds.

Alex watches her saunter back over to the pool table to rejoin her friends.

"Kara's right. Maggie is attracted to you Alex," Mon-El says as he and Kara rejoin Alex at the bar.

"Whatever," Alex says finishing off her drink.

Hoping to cheer her sister up, Kara suggests that they go play darts.

"Nah, I'm heading out. You two be careful tonight," Alex says slipping a $20 under her glass and nodding at the bartender.

Kara watches her sister leave and sighs to herself.

"I like darts, and I'm good at it," Mon-El exclaims eagerly.

"Well if Winn taught you to play, I'm totally going to kick your butt," Kara jokes picking up her glass of wine and heading over to the dart boards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heading out of the bar a few hours later, Kara is laughing at something Mon-El said when all of the sudden two guys step out from the shadows with a gun.

"Don't be a hero dude, just give us your wallet and the lady's purse," the hooded guy says gesturing with the gun.

The other guy cracks his knuckles and steps in close to Mon-El to intimidate him.

"Guys you really don't want to do this," Kara says placing a hand on Mon-El's arm to reassure him that she's going to handle it.

"We do and you're not going to stop us," the guy with the gun says motioning to his friend to grab Kara's purse.

Mon-El shoves the guy in front of him hard, knocking him into the other guy, causing the gun to go off accidently. The two thugs scramble to their feet and run away off.

Having heard the gunshot from inside the bar, Maggie barrels out the door, immediately her eyes land on Kara and Mike. "Kara, you guys okay? I heard a gunshot," she fires off the questions rapidly then noticing the gun on the ground, she pulls her sleeve over her hand and picks it up carefully. "Tell me what happened."

"We're fine," she says. "Two guys tried to rob us and Mo- Mike grabbed for the gun and it accidentally went off," Kara explains.

"I'm sorry Kara. I shouldn't have shoved him," Mon-El admits nervously.

"You're sure neither of you is hurt?" Maggie asks pulling her phone out to call it in. 

The two aliens feign checking each other out, then nod that they're both okay.

"Look I'll call this in and get a patrol sent over. Hopefully we'll find them before they jack with someone else," Maggie replies before the call connects.

Kara pulls Mon-El aside and reminds him that no one knows that she is Kryptonian and to not say anything.

He nods slowly.

"Okay, NCPD is enroute, we need you guys to stick around and make a statement," Maggie states as she stares at Kara and Mon-El.

"Do we have to? It really was nothing and we didn't even get a good look at them. They had hoods up and it's really dark," Kara explains.

"Kara, they held you at gunpoint, you have to make a statement, then I promise that we'll get you home as soon as possible," Maggie answers.

A few minutes later the first patrol car arrives and Kara and Mon-El make their statements.

After about an hour, Kara yawns. "Is there anything else? We have work tomorrow morning," she points out.

"No, that should do it. If we catch them will you come in and try to id them?" The officer asks.

"Yeah, sure," Kara says agreeing, although she has no intention of doing that.

"Okay, well let's get you two home then," the officer suggests going over to talk to Sawyer a moment.

When he comes back Kara and Mon-El are gone. "Hey where'd they go?" He asks the other officers.

"They walked that way," one of the crime scene techs says not looking up, but pointing down the empty street.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Landing on her patio, Kara releases her grip on Mon-El and he turns around excitedly.

"Kara, that was awesome," he blurts out smiling brightly. "How do you not fly all the time?"

"It is kind of awesome," she admits smiling brightly. "And actually, I do fly as often as I can," she adds taking off her sweater and poking her finger through the bullet hole in it.

"Wait, you were shot?" He asks worriedly, reaching out for her arm to check for a wound.

"I'm bulletproof, it just bounced off me," she explains.

"Am I bulletproof?" He asks excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you are," she says reaching over and showing him the bullet hole in his own shirt. "Looks like it bounced off both of us," she points out.

Quickly Mon-El removes his shirt to inspect his body and Kara gasps at his perfectly taunt torso. It should surprise her, but for some reason it does.

"Not a scratch," he says proudly inspecting himself.

"No, y-you're perfect-ly intact," Kara stammers before making her way into the apartment to hide her flushed face.


	2. Complications Arise

The next morning, Kara and Mon-El head in to CATCO together. The plan is for him to hide in Kara's office until Winn brings his fake credentials over.

"Just hang out in here and don't let anyone see you," Kara exclaims. "I've got an editorial meeting, but I'll be back in about an hour," she adds as she picks up her story folder, notepad and pen.

"Um Kara, what should I do while you're gone?" Mon-El asks.

Kara looks around a moment, then grabs a few issues of CATCO magazine. "Here, study these and I'll answer any questions you have when I get back," she says before darting out the door.

Mon-El sits down on the couch and begins thumbing through the magazines, when the office door opens.

"Who the hell are you?" The woman asks abruptly as she steps into the office and closes the door behind her.

"Uh, I'm waiting for Kara," he answers. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kara's boss. Now why are you sitting here in her office?" The woman asks.

"This is where she told me to wait, she just uh, she had a meeting," Mon-El replies.

"I see," the woman says, before leaving the office muttering to herself she adds, "I give her an office and she hides her boyfriend in it... highly unprofessional."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The editorial meeting takes longer than Kara expected and it's almost two hours later when she gets back to her office to find Winn and Mon-El both at her desk huddled over a laptop.

"Hey, oh Winn did you get his credentials?" Kara asks as she enters the office.

"I did and we just put together his resume," Winn says proudly reaching over to take it off the printer and hand it to Kara.

"Not bad," Kara says glancing at it and handing it back to him.

"With his background I thought maybe he could go for a job in security," Winn answers.

"Winn, just because he was a palace guard on Daxam, doesn't mean he should work security here," Kara exclaims.

"Why is it highly unprofessional?" Mon-El asks curiously.

"No, it's..." Winn begins to respond but then stops.

"Wait...Mon-El, where did you hear that?" Kara questions nervously turning to look at the Daxamite.

"Right after you left a woman opened the door and asked who I was. When I told her that I was your friend and that I was waiting for you she said that it was highly unprofessional for me to be here," Mon-El explains.

Kara fidgets with her glasses, "Um, what did the lady look like?"

"She was a babe," Mon-El answers brightly glancing over to Winn for approval.

"I think he means she was attractive," Winn offers.

"Winn, you said attractive women are babes," Mon-El replies confused.

"Mon-El, maybe you shouldn't learn about women from Winn," Kara snaps, glaring at Winn before picking up an issue of CATCO magazine. "Uh, was this the woman you met?" She asks showing him a photo.

"Yes, that's her. She seemed tense," he adds trying to help.

"Beautiful and tense? Definitely Ms Grant," Winn mutters to himself.

"What was Ms Grant doing here? I should probably call her and explain," Kara mutters to herself as she paces the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara approaches James' office slowly, taking a moment to listen for the telltale signs of Ms Grant in the office.

Then she notices Ms Teschmacher dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

"Is Ms Grant still in there?" Kara asks softly, even though she knows the answer.

The girl nods her head no and Kara gently pats her on the arm as she passes.

"Uh, hey," Kara says entering the office.

"Kara," James says looking up.

"I heard that Ms Grant was here," she states nervously.

"Yeah, she swept into the office in quite the mood this morning," James replies standing up and motioning for her to follow him out to the balcony.

"Do you know why was she here today? Kara questions once they're outside.

"Board meeting, I think," he answers watching Kara carefully.

"She, uh, was in my office looking for me," Kara says worriedly.

"Yeah, I know," James admits. "She barreled in here asking if I knew that there was someone in your office. Don't worry, I told her that you cleared it with me," he explains. "I just assumed that it's Mon-El."

"Thanks. Sorry about that," Kara replies. "Yeah, it's Mon-El. I brought him in with me so I could get him into the internship program, but we had to wait for Winn to bring over his credentials," she explains.

"An intern, here? Are you sure that's a good idea?" James questions.

"He'll be fine, he's a quick study," Kara reassures him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, you were mugged last night?" Alex blurts out as soon as Kara returns her office.

"Mon-El! You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that," Kara says turning to glare at him.

"It wasn't him. Detective Sawyer called me this morning," Alex snaps walking up to her. "I don't understand why you didn't tell me?"

"Alex it wasn't a big deal," Kara replies.

"A gun shot is a big deal Kara," Alex protests. "This could have been serious," she adds.

"Alex are you forgetting that both of us are bulletproof? It was nothing, Mon-El made a move on the first guy, but I didn't realize that he was going to... and look we'll be better prepared next time," Kara remarks nodding to Mon-El and stepping around Alex on the way to her desk. "Look, I can't have you guys hanging around in my office, I have work to do," she adds dramatically.

"And it's highly unprofessional," Mon-El pipes up.

"Stop saying that," Winn snaps at him. "Uh, sorry. I just don't say that, okay man. It's not something you should repeat so often," he says softer.

"Who did he hear that from?" Alex asks glaring at Winn and then Kara.

"Ms Grant stopped by earlier," Kara says softly.

"Kara! Ms Grant saw him here," Alex exclaims gesturing at Mon-El. "This is not good... Kara, she can't find out about him. She already suspects that you're Supergirl, if she finds out about Mon-El..."

"Alex stop. She's not going to find out," Kara says confidently.

"You better hope that she doesn't," Alex quips angrily before storming out of the office.

Winn awkwardly says goodbye and then follows after Alex.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After taking Mon-El down to HR and helping him fill out the forms, Kara brings him back up to her office so that she can make a few phone calls for the story that she was assigned that morning.

"Kara, are we going to eat soon?" Mon-El asks as they approach the office door.

Kara turns toward him before opening the door, "Change of plans," she says reaching into her pocket and handing some cash to Mon-El. "Uh, do you remember where Noonan's is, downstairs? Just go there and get a sandwich, I'll meet you there?" She asks.

"Sure, but what's going on? You seem tense all the sudden," Mon-El questions.

"Look, there is someone in my office and I need to talk to them, alone. Okay? I'll just be a few minutes, just go ahead. I promise not to be too long," she adds with a smile.

"Yeah, okay," he replies turning to head over to the elevator. Kara waits a moment and watches him go. Then smoothes down her dress and reopens the door.

"Ms Grant. This is, uh, unexpected," Kara says as she closes the door behind her.

"So I gathered," Cat remarks dryly. "I didn't realize that CATCO implemented a bring your boyfriend to work day?"

"He-he's not my boyfriend," Kara stammers nervously. "He's just a friend," she adds.

"An attractive friend," Cat points out.

Blushing and desperate to change the subject, Kara asks, "So what brings you here, to my, uh, office?"

"I wanted to congratulate you on your first by-line, I suppose that I should have called first," she adds standing up and coming around the desk to hand Kara a small box.

"T-thank you. Um what is this?" Kara asks surprised by the gesture.

"Well, you could open it and find out," Cat points out with a soft smile watching the girl carefully.

Unwrapping the box, Kara almost squeals when she realizes that it's a Mont Blanc pen. "Ms Grant, I've always wanted one of these!" She exclaims.

"And now you have one," Cat says pleased with the response to the gift.

Kara quickly gives her a hug and Cat smiles, before catching herself and switching back to boss mode.

"Now what exactly does Snapper have you working on?" she asks shifting her weight and crossing her arms to lean on the desk.

"Just a follow up piece on the Sanitation Department," Kara replies leaning over her desk to write her name with the pen.

Watching the girl, Cat smiles before turning away and stating, "Well, you don't always get to cover exciting stories Kara, just keep up the good work."

"Did you really just come in to give me this?" Kara asks shyly.

"Don't be ridiculous. I had a meeting with the board today," she replies sharply, then softening a bit, she adds, "but I wanted to give you that in person."

The admission makes Kara smile brightly, "Thank you Ms Grant." Then tapping the pen against her lip thoughtfully, she asks, "Uh, speaking of my assignment, do you have any contacts at the Sanitation Department by any chance?"

"Leveraging our relationship already, Kara?" Cat queries, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh, no Ms Grant. I didn't mean to ..." Kara blurts out apologising.

"Relax, Kara. You know that I do. Don't you recall setting up meetings with them last year for that outdoor event," Cat reminds her.

"Oh right," Kara says grabbing her book and flipping back through it. "And you don't mind if I use your contact list to call them?" Kara questions.

"Just make sure that you point out that you're a CATCO Reporter now," Cat says laughing lightly and walking towards the door to leave.

"Thanks again Ms Grant," Kara replies. "It was great to see you," she adds sincerely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering Noonan's Kara is surprised to see Mon-El having lunch with Eve Teschmacher. As soon as he spots Kara, he stands up and waves her over.

"Hey Kara, this is Eve Teschmacher," he says excited to introduce her.

"I know," Kara replies. "Hello, Ms Teschmacher. I see that you've met Mike," she says with a smile as she sits down at the table and Mon-El drapes an arm over the back of Kara's chair.

"Oh, Kara I'm sorry," Eve blurts out. "I didn't realize the two of you were. I thought you and Mr Olsen were still..."

"Uh James and I are just friends," Kara says quickly, then realizing that Mon-El's arm is behind her. She nudges him in the ribs and he removes it. "Mike is an old friend," she adds.

"Friends, sure I get it," Eve says picking up her tray, obviously disappointed. "I, uh I should get back to the office. It was nice to meet you Mike," she adds with a smile.

"I'm sorry," Kara says leaning in so she can speak softly. "You made friends fast," she adds with a smile.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you're here. I wasn't sure what to do, she saw me at the elevator and just sort of joined me and I didn't want to be rude," he explains.

"Oh well, did you get enough to eat?" Kara asks changing the subject and glancing around the restaurant.

"Yeah, these sandwiches are really good," he says grabbing the last one and handing it to her. "Oh hey, I got one for you," he says smiling at her.

"Thanks," she says returning the smile. "I have an idea. I have a meeting across town that won't take long so I thought maybe you would like to go with me," Kara says as she unwraps the sandwich and takes a bite.

Mon-El hands her a napkin and then responds "Uh, Kara. No offense, but will this require me to stand around and wait for you to finish, because that is really boring."

"Sorry about that, but this time there's a park nearby, so I thought that you could explore the park while I'm in the meeting," Kara explains.

"A park?" He questions.

"Yes, trust me. You'll like it," she says finishing up the sandwich. "Look if we leave now, we'll get there in time for me to show you around," Kara remarks standing up and motioning towards the approaching bus.

"If you fly us there, we'd have more time at the park," Mon-El points out with a grin.

Kara rolls her eyes, "Yes, but it's probably not a good idea for you and Supergirl to be seen together," Kara reminds him as they walk out to catch the bus.


	3. Enter Lena Luthor

Kara is finally back in her office at the end of the day. The bus ride with Mon-El turned awkward when he asked if she was his girlfriend, since she was both a girl and a friend. Carefully she explained the difference, but a few times she slipped and spoke in Kryptonian, which earned her some odd looks from the other passengers, although he understood better. She promised that they would talk more tonight. But she's not looking forward to it. She never thought that she would meet anyone from her galaxy, who didn't want to kill her. And she has to admit that he is attractive, although definitely not her type.

Clearing her thoughts, she organizes her notes but before she can begin writing, her desk phone rings. Groaning in frustration as she picks up the receiver, "Danvers," she says with just a trace of annoyance in her voice.

"Wow, rough day?" Lena Luthor asks slightly amused that the usually sunny Kara Danvers does actually have bad days.

"Ms L-Luth, er I mean Lena," Kara stammers. "Uh sorry, I was just working on something and I thought you were someone else. How are you?" She asks changing her tone.

"I would be better if you'd agree to have dinner with me tonight," she responds playfully.

"Oh, uh dinner... tonight," Kara repeats slowly.

"Is that a yes or no?" Lena asks playfully.

"It's a no. I-I, uh, I have plans tonight," Kara exclaims apologetically..

"Fair enough, it is last minute," Lena concedes. "Hmm, what about lunch tomorrow? I have something that I'd like you to see," she adds.

For a moment, Kara can't tell if she's flirting or being serious. Deciding to take the professional approach, Kara replies evenly. "Lunch tomorrow should work, is 1 pm too late?" She asks.

"My office at 1 pm is perfect and I'll order in. Any requests?" Lena questions lightly.

"No, whatever you order is fine with me," Kara replies.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow," Lena says ending the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning is Mon-El's first day working at CATCO as an intern. Kara has dressed him and styled his hair. He seems amused by her attention, but it is apparent that she is more nervous than he is.

They walk to work and she takes him to his desk to give him a brief orientation of what he is to do for the next eight hours. Just as she's done explaining it to him, her phone rings, so she steps away to answer it.

She comes back and he is sitting at the desk with his feet up and his phone is ringing.

"You need to answer the phone Mike," she says shoving his feet off the desk.

"Hello, this is Mike," he says speaking directly at the ringing phone.

Kara rolls her eyes before picking up the receiver and handing it to him.

He repeats the greeting and after a few minutes he hangs it up.

"What did they need?" Kara asks.

"I have no idea," Mike says shrugging.

"You should probably get pen and paper out and write down each phone call, if you have questions you can ask me or text Winn," Kara instructs him.

"What about Ms Teschmacher?" Mon-El asks looking across the bullpen and waving to her.

"No, stay away from Ms Teschmacher. She's James' assistant and she has a lot of work to do," Kara explains.

"Okay, fine. So will I see you at lunch?" Mon-El asks looking through the drawers on his desk.

Kara reaches down and opens the middle drawer and pulls out a steno pad and a pen and sets it beside the phone.

"Uh, no I have appointments today through lunch. But just go to Noonan's like you did yesterday," Kara reminds before heading off to her own office. Glancing back, she watches as Ms Teschmacher makes her way over to Mon-El's desk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Approaching Lena's office, the receptionist looks up and greets Kara by name.

"Ms Danvers, Ms Luthor is expecting you. She asked that I escort you as soon as you arrived," the girl says pleasantly.

"Thank you," Kara says returning the smile and curiously following her into Lena's office.

"Kara, don't you look fabulous today. I love that blazer," Lena says coming around the desk to greet her.

"Uh, thanks and you, um, you look great too," Kara says suddenly nervous. She reaches up to adjust her glasses and Lena smiles at the gesture.

"I hope that you're hungry. I couldn't decide what I was in the mood for, so I ordered a few different things from Zen Cafe," Lena explains gesturing where her assistant laid out the food.

"But first I want to show you something that we've been working on," she adds going over to a lock box behind her desk. She pulls out a small device and turns to Kara smiling brightly. "This is the future," she announces as she comes back around the desk.

"The future looks small," Kara jokes nervously.

Lena smiles at her, before explaining, "This device is able to read skin cells and determine if someone is human or not."

"Human or not?" Kara questions hesitantly.

"Yes, since many meta-humans and aliens look just like regular people, we developed this device to help people determine who is human and who isn't," she explains.

"Uh, that's... wow, who knew you could develop something like that," Kara retorts, clearly uncomfortable. "Uh, how does it work?"

"Let me show you," Lena says placing her thumb over the reader and in a few minutes the device flashes blue. "Here, you try it," she says setting it down in front of Kara.

"Ms Luthor, are you sure that a device like this is a good idea," Kara exclaims. "President Marsdin just signed the Alien Amnesty Act," she explains. "Don't you think that something like this could be used to discriminate against non-humans?"

Lena expected this response from Kara, she quickly turns away as if to consider it and to hide her smirk. Kara takes advantage and zaps the device with her laser vision, hoping to damage it so it won't read her correctly.

Lena turns back around to face her and respond, "Well Kara, with more aliens coming forward and blending into society, it's even more important now for us to have a way to know who the actual humans are," she argues. "Can you imagine dating someone and not knowing if they are human or not?"

"Well, I hadn't really considered that aspect of it. But don't you think that asking them to take a test like this would be really awkward," Kara points out.

"Maybe so, but why don't you try it, I promise that you won't feel a thing," Lena adds flashing Kara another brilliant smile.

"Okay," Kara says picking it up and placing her thumb over it. After a moment, it flashes blue, the same reading as Lena's. "Does that mean we're both human or both non-human?" She jokes nervously as she sets the device down quickly.

Smiling at Kara's joke, but secretly pleased that Kara's reading matched hers as expected, Lena comes around the desk to take the blonde's arm. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving," she says nodding towards the small table that is set up for their lunch.

Once they set down and begin to eat, Kara clears her throat and asks a question.

"Lena, I think the public would be interested to know about this device you've developed. Do you have any plans to announce it soon?" Kara asks carefully.

"Actually, I was hoping that you would do the honors. I have a press packet ready for you to take with you," Lena replies smugly.

"Oh gosh. Wow, thank you," Kara gushes appreciatively. She had no idea that Lena would give her the story so easily.

"I like you Kara, I know we didn't get off to the best start but I want you to see a different side of me and I hope that your stories about L-Corp will reflect that," Lena says with a smile as she reaches out to place her hand over Kara's on the table.

Kara glances anxiously down at their hands. She suspected that Lena was just a flirty person, but now it's clear that it may be more than that. Unsure of how to handle this development, the hero decides that she should probably extract herself quickly, so she pulls her hand away to slip her phone out of her jacket pocket. "Excuse me," she apologizes with a smile, before quickly typing a message to Mon-El. He replies quickly, which she uses that as her excuse to leave.

"I hate to eat and run, but I have an intern doing research and I, uh, need to get back to the office," Kara says standing up to excuse herself.

"Of course, I understand," Lena replies as she wipes her mouth with her napkin, hiding her disappointment. Then watching Kara gather her things, she stands up and crosses the room.

"Oh Kara, another thing, as you probably know, I'm being honored at the MET Gala this weekend and I wondered if you were available to go as my guest?" She asks.

"Really? Wow, t-t-that would be...," Kara stammers, "but I need to clear something off my calendar first though, can I let you know for sure tomorrow?" She asks.

"Hmm, yes but I hope that I can count on you Kara," Lena replies. "I'd hate to have to take one of my associates," she teases.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole ride back to the office, Kara stresses over what she has to wear to the Gala. Slipping back into her office, she sits down to consider her options when there's a light knock on the door.

"Kara," James says as he pushes open her door.

"Hey," she says sitting up in her chair and turning to face him.

James closes the door behind him and leans against it. "How are things going?"

"Good, Mon-El started his internship here today and so far, so good," she replies. "Oh and Lena Luthor just gave me an exclusive on L-Corp's latest technology release," Kara adds nodding to the press packet on her desk.

"Whoa, have you told Carr yet? That's going to win you some major points," James points out.

"Well, actually I need to finish writing up my assignment," Kara explains. "Then I'll write it up and submit it to the news desk."

"Wow, an exclusive from L-Corp, that's really big, Kara," James says flashing a big smile at her.

"I know! I can't believe that Lena invited me to lunch and then gave me this," Kara exclaims, not mentioning that Lena asked her to dinner first.

James watches her a moment, then sits on the side of her desk, "Uh, Kara so what's going on with you and Lena Luthor?" he asks with a bit of concern.

"Well, you know ever since I met her with Clark a few weeks ago, she has been really nice to me. Then last week I did that small piece on her in response to the Alien Amnesty Act and this week she gives me this," Kara explains.

"Hmm, you must have made quite the impression on her," James remarks, his concern still obvious.

"Well, I think that we have some stuff in common. You know, since she is trying to make a name for herself separate from her brother and I am doing the same, trying to establish myself as a reporter independent from Clark," Kara suggests.

"I guess, well I knew you'd be good at this," James replies complimenting her and is surprised when she looks down blushing. "Kara what's going on?" He asks.

"It's just, uh Lena Luthor asked me to attend an event with her on Saturday as her guest," she carefully stresses that point.

"Whoa, Lena Luthor asked you out?" James blurts out, "Kara does she know that you're Supergirl?" He asks.

"No, of course not. How could she?" Kara replies quickly. "Besides she just asked me to be her guest at the Met Gala, because she's being honored," Kara explains confidently, but inside she's not really sure that's all there is to it.

"Uh, Kara have you cleared this with Snapper yet?" James questions. "Media usually has to be cleared before hand."

"Oh, well I'm not going as media. I'm going as a guest," Kara points out.

"Yes, but you are a reporter and she's your subject, so you definitely need to let him know about it. You don't want to have a conflict of interest so early in your career," James counters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's this?" Snapper says dropping his sandwich onto the wrapper and wiping his hands on his pants as he stares at the story folder Kara has set down on his desk.

"Lena Luthor asked me to stop by L-Corp today. She gave me a demonstration of this alien detection device and a press packet. Here's the packet, plus 500 words, AP style," Kara says proudly.

"This press release is dated tomorrow," Snapper says taking off his glasses. "Wait, you got an exclusive from L-Corp?"

"Yes sir," Kara replies trying to contain her excitement.

"What about the sanitation story, did you get that filed on time?" He asks grumpily.

"Yes sir, it's in editing now. I had them edit this one first, so I could give it to you finished, because it's breaking news," she explains.

"I know the rules for breaking news Danvers, they're my rules," he reminds her impatiently. Then looking over the piece, he shuts the folder and drops it on the desk. "Except this isn't finished. There's no photos," Snapper points out.

"Oh," Kara replies frowning. "Uh, I'll just call over there and...," she begins to suggest, but Snapper interrupts her.

"No need. I'll just send someone over to get one," Carr says, finally looking up at her with a look other than annoyance. "Not bad Danvers, we might make a reporter out of you yet," he says begrudgingly.

Encouraged by his remark and happy to not be called Ponytail again. Kara clears her throat and adds, "There's, uh, one more thing Chief, she invited me to be her guest at the MET Gala on Saturday night, is it okay if I go? I don't want it to be a conflict of interest or anything," she stammers nervously.

"Lena Luthor invited you to be her guest at the MET Gala?" He questions. "The MET Gala where she is the guest of honor?"

"Uh, I don't have to go. It's probably not a good idea," Kara blurts out anxiously.

Carr gives her a long look for a moment before he crassly asks, "Is there anything going on between the two of you?"

Kara gasps in shock at the questions, so he continues. "I'm only asking because if you're seeing her then it's a bad idea, but if you're really just going as her guest, then you should go and I'll even assign it to you."

Kara wonders if he's talking himself into it, then realizes that he's assigning her to cover it.

"Really Chief?" Kara asks excitedly before turning to leave quickly, eager to get going and figure out what to wear.

"Ponytail," Snapper barks. "The deadline is Sunday at 10 am for the first draft, the story posts at noon. Don't screw this up," he adds before picking up his sandwich and taking a large bite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Kara and Mon-El are getting ready for work, when they're interrupted by a pounding on the door.

Mon-El looks worried, but Kara rolls her eyes and goes over to open it. There's only one person who pounds on her door like that.

"L-Corp has developed an alien detection device and you tested it!" Alex exclaims shutting the door behind her.

"She surprised me. I had no idea that's why she invited me over there. But look, I zapped it before I used it and it flashed the same for me as it did for her," Kara explains.

"Great, so either you broke the device or she's not human either," Alex quips before adding, "Either way, this isn't good, Kara."

"Alex, I don't think that she's an alien and prototypes malfunction all the time," Kara points out hopefully,

"You might be right, but how do we know that she's not an alien. She was adopted into the Luthor family, just like you were adopted. We really don't know anything about her, I'm going to start a file on her," Alex says grabbing her phone.

"Alex, you're overreacting, that device is never going to make it to the public. It goes against everything that President Marsdin is trying to do with the Alien Amnesty Act," Kara counters. "Didn't you read my article?"

"Oh, I read your article," she snaps, before turning her attention back to her phone. "Winn, I need you to start a file on Lena Luthor, full background, with medical if you can get it," she says rapidly into the phone before ending the call.

Mon-El looks from one to the other confused. "Is this something that I need to worry about?" He asks.

"Yes," Alex replies loudly.

"No," Kara says resting a hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing for any of us to worry about right now," she adds.

"I hope that you're right, but I need to get going to further assess this situation," Alex says heading out the door.

Kara sighs and runs her hand through her hair. She should have expected Alex to react this way, she realizes.

"I'm going to finish getting ready for work. We don't want to be late," she says before heading into her bedroom.

"Kara, what exactly are meta-humans?" He asks following her.

"Mon-El, I'm changing clothes!" She yells before quickly spinning into her outfit before he can even turn around.

"Not like I could see anything at that speed," he jokes.

"You should knock before entering someone's bedroom," she reminds him.

"Yeah, sorry. But in my defense you were already dressed for work when you came in here," he points out.

"Well, I changed my mind," she says glancing over her outfit again and reconsidering it.

"Kara, y-you look great, and you shouldn't worry so much about your clothes. You always look really good," he adds smiling shyly at her.

"Oh, well thank you. But you have no idea how critical people are about clothes here on Earth," Kara replies even more self-conscious now that he's noticing her. "B-but you asked about meta-humans, and we can talk about that on the way in. We're going to be late," she says rushing past him.


	4. Dancing Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So happy to be getting into a grove with my writing and work schedule.

"Lena Luthor attended boarding school on the east coast, the only thing odd about that is that she came back for Spring break her junior year and didn't return. And there are no school records available until two years later when she's enrolled in college," Winn explains to Alex as they review the file that he's started compiling on Lena Luthor.

"Okay, let's look at Lex Luthor's file and see what he was doing when she was home for Spring break. Maybe something happened at home to cause her to stay here instead of returning to school," Alex suggests as she pulls out her phone to answer it. "Danvers," she says in her usual direct way.

"Hey Agent Danvers," Maggie says with a smile in her voice.

"Detective," Alex says brightly, causing Winn to raise his eyebrows and look over at her.

Alex shoots him a glare and heads for the door, "Hold on, let me step out into the hall," she says into the phone.

"Want me all to yourself, huh?" Maggie teases.

Trying to ignoring the detective's flirting, "I was in a meeting, why are you calling?" Alex questions.

"All business today, okay." Maggie feigns hurt. "Well Agent, a little birdie told me that you are looking into a certain CEO and I wanted to offer my assistance," she explains.

"How... Who told you that I, we were looking into anyone?" Alex asks flustered a bit by this revelation.

"Danvers, chill out," Maggie replies amused by her bluster. "We are on the same side," she adds.

Pacing the hallway, Alex corrects her, "We may be on the same side, but are not on the same team. Now how do you know about a newly opened investigation Detective?" she asks again.

"Ouch," Maggie blurts out reflexively before switching into professional mode. "Look Danvers I'm offering to help you because I found out that you pulled one of my MPD file," she explains, not happy with how this is conversation is going.

"Sawyer, MPD should never have contacted you about this," Alex points out angrily.

"Hold on," Maggie replies quickly. "My friend, only told me that a government agency pulled my file. I guessed that it was you and gauging by your reaction I was right," she adds smugly.

"Damn it," Alex swears under her breath before taking a moment to collect her thoughts. How is it this woman keeps getting to her like this.

"Danvers it just so happens that I have a private file on this individual. And in the spirit of complete cooperation, I'll bring it to your office and you can go over it with you," Maggie offers.

Alex pauses, she really wants to see the file but she doesn't want J'onn to know that she's looking into Lena Luthor yet. "Uh, tell you what, I have a lot going on today. Maybe I could come by later and look at it after work."

"After work, huh?" Maggie teases, her voice dropping an octave.

Alex suddenly realizes what she's thinking and blurts out, "Wait, that wasn't what I meant, I just, um, this is not..." she stammers.

"Not what? An official investigation? Danvers, are you going rogue?" Maggie asks in shock, but also a bit impressed.

"She's getting close to my sister... so I'm checking to make sure that she's not up to something," Alex explains lowering her voice.

"Ah, say no more. I've met your sister and I can confirm that you should be concerned," Maggie says laughing softly.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Alex asks concerned.

"Apparently, you haven't gotten very far into my file," Maggie points out.

"No, we haven't even opened it yet. Wait, so would you mind helping me with this, since you seem to know her. Right now we're trying to figure out why she dropped out of boarding school in the Spring of 2007," Alex replies realizing that she should accept Maggie's help.

"That's an interesting story, but not one that I can tell you over the phone," Maggie says glancing around the office to make sure no one is paying attention to her conversation. "Come by my place, 8 o'clock?" She suggests.

"I'll be there," Alex replies.

"Need my address?" Maggie asks.

"No, I've got it," Alex smirks.

"Wait, don't tell me that you have a file on me?" Maggie blurts out.

"You're in the Science Division of NCPD, of course we have a file on you. Later Detective," Alex says smugly ending the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning before work, Kara is going through all of her dresses that she's worn to various events as Cat's assistant. But quickly realizes that she's been photographed in all of them. Maybe she should just call Cat's favorite dress shop and see if they have anything available. Afterall, Cat always had good luck procuring last minute dresses for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Penthouse, Cat is stuck on a conference call with her publisher. Now that she's taken the sabbatical from CATCO, the media mogul has decided to write a motivational leadership book. If that hack Sandberg can do it, than just imagine what I can write, Cat informed her agent and apparently she agreed because now they are negotiating the book deal.

"No, absolutely not. This is not negotiable, I will not sit down with anyone from Fox News," Cat roars.

"Ms Grant, Megyn Kelly did an excellent interview with Sheryl Sandberg," the agent begins to explain.

"Maddow or Cooper, this is not up for discussion," Cat snaps. "Now why are we even discussing publicity, I haven't even submitted anything for publication?"

"There is no question regarding the quality of the book, Ms Grant. But we are concerned about how much promotion you'll be willing to put into it," the publisher's rep explains.

"Ms Grant only cut the last book tour short because of her divorce, that won't happen this time, she's not even married," her agent replies.

"Excuse me, you two work this out without me. And no Fox News!" Cat says ending the call abruptly.

"Sheila?" Cat says picking up her cell and answering it quickly.

"Ms Grant, Ms Danvers called about needing a dress for this weekend and she informed me that she's no longer your assistant, so I just wanted to check to see if you're instructions have changed." Sheila explains.

"Did she say why she needs the dress?" Cat asks curiously.

"Apparently, she's attending the Gala at the Met," Sheila answers.

"Yes, go ahead and let her choose, but remember that she won't accept it unless she pays for it, so make up a price and sell it to her," Cat decides impulsively. Before Myriad Cat had planned to take the girl to the Women in Media awards ceremony, so she had ordered a dress made for Kara. Neither of them has seen it and Cat wonders if Kara has remembered or if she is just desperate enough to use Cat's contacts since she needs a dress on short notice. Knowing Kara, it's most likely the latter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon, Alex stops by Kara's office. She can't help but notice the gown hanging on the back of the door.

"Explain this dress Kara, where the hell are you going wearing this?" Alex blurts out.

"Um, I am going to the MET Gala tomorrow night, it's for uh, it's for an assignment?" Kara stammers out the explanation, but it sounds like a question.

"Are you asking me if it's an assignment? Because you don't sound sure, now what's going on?" Alex asks sitting down in a chair to wait for the explanation.

"Um, well I was sort of invited to go as a guest and when I told Snapper, he assigned it to me to cover," Kara replies hesitantly.

"Who invited you, Cat Grant?" Alex asks, which doesn't really make sense, but it is the type of thing that Kara has attended with the media mogul in the past.

"Uh, no it's someone else," Kara replies biting her lip and turning away from Alex.

"Kara, look at me. If it's not Cat Grant, then who are you going to the event with?" Alex demands, although she can just guess at this point.

"Lena, Lena Luthor asked me to be her guest, but Alex..." Kara rushes over to her sister to try to explain.

"You've got to be kidding me! Kara, getting close to Cat Grant was bad enough, but Lena Luthor is a whole other level of bad idea." Alex blurts out as she paces in front of Kara's desk.

"Actually, I kind of figured that you'd respond this way," Kara admits rolling her eyes. "I'm just getting to know her a little. It's not fair to judge her for her brother's actions," she adds.

"Wait, is something going on between you two? Oh god, Kara are you seeing Lena Luthor?" Alex practically shouts before lowering her voice and waiting for Kara to answer her.

"Um," Kara pauses, then making a decision she adds, "No, I'm not exactly seeing her, but she has made it clear that she's interested and you're the one who said that if I was going to date women, I should date one my own age. Well Lena is much closer to my age..." she explains lightly trying not to smile.

Alex almost explodes. "Kara, do I need to remind you that Lena is Lex 'I'm going to kill Superman' Luthor's sister? What the hell are you thinking?" She snaps, her hands gesturing wildly.

Kara assumes her power pose and jokes, "Come on Alex, I am Supergirl."

"God Kara. You are joking about this? This is funny to you?" Alex roars angrily.

"Alex, look I can handle Lena Luthor. Even if she's up to something, she's nothing like her brother and being close to her will allow me to figure it out," Kara points out.

"This, this is a really bad idea," Alex counters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Spring of 2007, there was a meteor crash in the desert but when Superman went to investigate it, there wasn't anything there. Apparently Lex had paid off a scientist at the Metropolis Observatory to tip him off. So this scientist manages to track the meteor and estimate where it's going to land in the desert. And Lex gets his team out there and by the time Superman arrives whatever crashed there had already been removed. Now the official word from the government is that the meteor broke up on entry. No big deal. Not like it hasn't happened before. But Superman knows that it was some sort of spacecraft that crashed and he's able to track it to Luthor Corp," Maggie explains pausing to hand Alex photos from the crash site before continuing.

"A couple days later MPD gets a call from Metropolis General Hospital, Superman has dropped off an unconscious female that he rescued from Luthor Corp. Just as MPD arrives, Lionel Luthor arrives in his private helicopter with a team of his own medical personnel to pick her up. Next Superman returns from the secret Luthor Corp site and informs us that everything is gone. It's been completely shut down and cleared out."

"Wait, I remember this now. I just didn't know that it anything to do with Lena Luthor," Alex replies leaning forward and skimming through the file. "This is about the alien from Colu, Luthor had a team of biochemical neurologists analyze the alien and connect it to a modified biofeedback monitor, but the alien was able to hijack the monitor, hack into the network that supported it and take control of all of the equipment in the lab," she says remembering the details from Lex's file.

"Right." Maggie confirms, before filling in the rest of the story. "So apparently, Lena stumbled into the private lab looking for her brother. She immediately went to the alien's bedside and it attempted to take over her mind and body. Lex and his scientists interrupted the procedure and were trying to stabilize her when Superman burst into the lab. Sensing that the girl was in critical condition, Superman grabbed her and took her to the hospital," she adds.

"So, Lena Luthor was attacked by this alien and almost died," Alex exclaims. "But there's no mention of this in any of her medical files that we could access. Are we sure that's what happened?"

"That's because Lionel whisked her away to his private medical facility. No one actually knows what the alien did to her, only that she disappeared for two years. Then suddenly reappeared saying that she'd been home-schooled and she had a perfect SAT score. She was always a good student, but whatever happened to her didn't seem to have any ill effects because she managed to complete a double major in business and biological engineering," Maggie finishes.

Alex exhales softly as she considers this information. "There's a chance then that she's either meta-human or an alien," she finally states. "I need to warn Kara," Alex adds.

"Alex, your sister is a reporter. You can't tell her any of this, none of this is on the record," Maggie points out.

"Well, this is definitely enough to open up a DEO investigation. Can I have this just to show my boss?" Alex asks.

"Set up a meeting and I'll bring it out and go over it with him. I trust you Alex, but I don't trust the DEO yet. This file represents years of field work. I kept it from MPD, I'm not ready to turn it over to the feds yet," Maggie explains.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow, Kara you look beautiful," Mon-El exclaims when she enters the living room ready for the Gala.

"Wow indeed, Kara you look amazing," Winn exclaims too. "Um, are you sure that this isn't a date though?" he asks.

"Winn, you are as bad as James. Look, I'm just going as her guest. This isn't any different than when I went to these things with Ms Grant. I went as her guest and you guys didn't think anything of it," Kara points out.

"Well, we did actually, but we were scared to mention it," Winn teases, earning him a glare from her.

A moment later Kara's phone buzzes telling her the limo is downstairs. "We've got to go guys, the limo is here," she exclaims suddenly feeling a little nervous. "What are you guys doing tonight anyway?" She asks as they head leave the apartment.

"Strip club!" Mon-El blurts out excitedly, earning glares from both Winn and Kara.

"We're going out to see a movie and then we'll probably hang out at my place," Winn replies.

"Okay, do you want me to come by later and get him?" She asks as they step into the elevator.

"Hey, why don't I have a say in this?" Mon-El pouts.

"Dude we almost got arrested the last time we went out," Winn reminds him, then to Kara he says, "I have an extra room, he can just stay over and we'll meet up tomorrow for lunch."

"Ok, that sounds good," Kara says as the elevator opens..

"Kara are you sure that I can't come with you?" Mon-El begs.

"Definitely not," she replies. "Just hang out with Winn tonight and I promise that we'll do something fun tomorrow," she promises before flashing him a smile and a small wave goodbye before turning towards the driver, who is opening the door for her.

"Wow, you have some attractive male friends. I hope that they're a couple," Lena remarks from across the limo.

"Oh gosh, no they aren't a couple! Uh, Lena when you said that you'd send a car, I didn't realize that you'd be in it," Kara blurts out a bit shocked to see the other woman.

"Kara, I'm not going to enter the Gala solo, that was the whole point of inviting you to come with me," Lena points out.

"Oh right," Kara says swallowing hard and glancing nervously around the car.

"Would you like some champagne?" Lena asks picking up another glass and pouring it for her guest.

Kara takes it and quickly drains the glass. It's not like alcohol affects her, but the act of drinking it does calm her a bit.

"You look beautiful tonight, Ms Luthor... er, I mean Lena," Kara says trying to act like it's normal for her to be in a limo drinking champagne.

"That dress is amazing, please tell me where you found that," Lena says raking her eyes over the blonde appreciatively.

Kara just smiles at her and takes another sip of champagne. She doesn't want to admit that she bought the dress on clearance, even it was Ms Grant's favorite boutique.

The car slows down and Lena lowers the glass between them and the driver. "How long is the line?" She asks him.

"It won't be long Ms Luthor, we're moving into the VIP line," he says over his shoulder.

"Are you ready for the red carpet Kara?" Lena asks after closing the divider.

"Sure," Kara replies wetting her lips nervously.

"You've done this before? With Cat Grant?" Lena asks softly with just a hint of something Kara thinks might be jealously.

"I, uh, I usually trail behind with her phone and clutch," Kara replies.

"Ah, well none of that tonight. We're walking this one together," Lena says as the door opens.

"Oh," Kara exclaims, before carefully stepping out of the limo.

Immediately, camera flashes practically blind the two women and Lena reaches back to take Kara's hand to lead her forward.

"Ms Luthor, who are you wearing?" One reporter calls out.

"Lena, who's your date?" Another shouts out.

"I'm wearing Vera Wang," Lena replies confidently.

"Miss are you someone? Who are you?" Another voice calls out to Kara.

Kara smiles and glances over to Lena shyly.

"This is my guest this evening, I'm confident that you can figure out who she is without my help," Lena teases them pulling Kara in closer for one more pose.

Across the driveway, J'onn and Alex watch the whole scene unfold.

"Damn it!" Alex snaps. "I knew this was a terrible idea," she adds pacing anxiously. "J'onn we should have briefed her on Lena before letting her attend this event."

"Nothing will happen tonight Agent Danvers. Luthor wouldn't try anything with this many people around," he points out.


	5. I Hope You Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just teasing a bit, but I swear SuperCat is endgame!

"You didn't have to do that," Kara says softly to Lena as they wait to enter the Gala.

"Do what?" Lena asks smiling at her.

"Protect me," Kara replies.

"Kara I wasn't protecting you," Lena points out. "I was protecting myself and besides it's more fun this way if they have to figure out who you are," she adds.

"But they will know tomorrow, when they read my story runs," Kara counters.

"Excuse me, Kara are you writing a story about me tonight?" Lena questions sharply, reaching out for Kara's arm to pull her to the side, not wanting this conversation to be overheard.

"Lena, when I informed my boss that I was attending as your guest, he suggested that's why you invited me to be your guest," Kara explains anxiously, "I just assumed that he was right."

Lena pauses as a waiter approaches, then she takes two glasses of champagne off the tray, hands one to Kara and takes a long sip out of the other. "Hmm, I see," she replies flatly. "And it didn't occur to you that maybe this was more personal?"

"You said be my guest, I often attended these things as Ms Grant's guest...Look, I'm sorry if I misunderstood," Kara says not wanting to compare the two CEOs.

"No, you're right. I said guest," Lena admits. "And I've asked you to help me in the past."

Kara stares at the champagne glass in her hand a moment and is about to apologize again, when Lena smiles at her.

Kara looks away nervously.

Lena finishes off her champagne then smiles again, a bit more warmly than the first one.

"Kara, it's a great opportunity for both of us, I get a night out with National City's hottest new reporter. And you get another exclusive from me," Lena teases.

Kara breaks into a smile.

Encouraged, Lena adds, "Besides it's not like I'd want our first date to be an event in my honor, how would I ever top that?"

Kara almost chokes on her champagne at the remark. Worriedly, she glances around the room and is relieved to notice Agent Vasquez heading towards them with another agent on her arm, nodding as she passes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lena introduces Kara to a few people, but each time she makes a point to mention that Kara is a reporter for CATCO, which makes more than a few people shuffle off quickly.

Finally, Kara feeling uncomfortable, decides to say something, so she pulls Lena off to the side. "I'm getting the feeling that no one's going to talk to you with me here," Kara announces carefully and thoughtfully. "Maybe I should just go, I don't want to ruin your night," she adds her voice trailing as she looks towards the door.

Lena takes a deep breath and then replies, "Kara, a few people here don't like to talk around reporters, that doesn't mean that you should leave. Please stay, you aren't ruining my night," she admits.

"But... I sense a but," Kara prompts.

"I'm glad that you told me that you're on assignment, but please understand that I've brought a reporter in as a guest which allows you full access to people who don't usually give reporters access like this. So I feel like I have to tell people who you are and give them a choice to talk around you or not." Lena explains.

"If it's a problem..." Kara begins.

"I promise you that it's not that it's a problem, but I also don't want it to be a problem. Does that make sense?" Lena asks.

"Yeah," Kara admits, before adding, "I am used to going to these things with Ms Grant, no one ever questions why I'm there," she explains.

"This is an opportunity for you to get out from under Cat Grant's shadow. Kara, I have a feeling that it won't be long before people know your name," Lena says smiling at her. "And I expect that you'll be better known than even Lois Lane," she adds reaching out and squeezing Kara's hand.

"Thanks Lena. That is really nice of you to say," Kara replies, then deciding to make it up to her, she asks, "Uh, would you like to dance?"

Surprised, Lena just nods and lets Kara lead her out to the dance floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the presentation where Lena is honored for L-Corp's donation to the MET, Lena is talking business with a couple and Kara wanders away to let them talk. Standing at the railing overlooking the dance floor, Kara thinks that she sees Ms Grant, but then the woman turns around and it's not her. Kara sighs, then her phone buzzes in her clutch. Glancing over to make sure that Lena is still occupied talking, she slips her phone out to see a text from Alex checking on her. Quickly Kara replies and slips the phone back into her bag as she sense's Lena approaching.

"Is everything alright?" Lena asks when Kara turns around.

"Yes, I just thought that I saw someone I knew, but when I got closer it wasn't them," she says laughing softly and flashing a smile.

They stand together a moment, watching the other couple make their way down the enormous staircase when Lena barely stifles a yawn.

Embarrassed, she exclaims, "My god, this is exhausting. I know it's kind of early, but would you mind if we leave?"

"Are you kidding? I don't know how people like you and Ms Grant do this? This is exhausting," Kara remarks with a smile.

"Well, I can't speak for Cat Grant, but I can only imagine that I will be attending more of these things now that I am trying to establish L-Corp in National City. It does go with the territory I suppose," she remarks before yawning again.

Kara smiles at her before taking Lena's arm and leading her down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, Lena sends a quick text to the driver to pick them up, before leaving Kara at the door, so that she can make her way over to the Gala organizers to thank them and say goodbye.

In the limo, Kara closes her eyes a moment to get her bearings. Her senses get overwhelmed at these events and the silence in the limo is deafening at first.

"Kara, are you alright?" Lena asks leaning towards her concerned.

"Yes, sorry. I just, it's so quiet now, I just needed a minute to adjust," she explains shyly.

"I know what you mean," Lena admits, switching seats to sit closer to her. "It's kind of overwhelming," she adds.

Kara smiles tightly, just a bit nervous to have Lena so close. It's not like they weren't closer on the dance floor, they were, but they also weren't alone.

"Uh, thank you for inviting me tonight," Kara says wanting to break the tension. "I don't usually enjoy these things, but I did... uh, enjoy this one," she adds realizing that she's rambling nervously.

Lena turns to her, "I should be thanking you, tonight was great. I really didn't expect you to feel comfortable dancing with me, that was really amazing," she admits smiling at Kara.

"Yeah, well I kind of surprised myself, actually," Kara admits shyly.

"Kara, may I ask you a personal question?"

"Um, sure." Kara replies praying that it's not what she thinks it's going to be.

"Have you ever dated a woman?" Lena asks.

"Oh, well I haven't but it doesn't seem like it would be that different from dating a man," Kara replies because to her dating is about the person not the gender. Kryptonians didn't differentiate attraction by gender.

"Oh, I think there are some differences, although I haven't dated men in a long time, so I guess I'm not the best authority," Lena admits.

"Well, I haven't dated much in general, so I wouldn't really know either," Kara confesses.

"I find that difficult to believe,Kara. You are gorgeous. How is it possible that you haven't dated much?" Lena asks not taking her eyes off the blonde.

A bit nervous by the intense eye contact, Kara stammers, "M-my sister, she was really overprotective in high school and well college, I was kind of a super nerd. I was always studying, I double majored."

"Well, I can relate to that, I double majored too," Lena says turning slightly to better face the blonde.

Kara licks her lips nervously, trying not to stare but Lena is beautiful and Kara feels herself being drawn in, only to realize that it's because Lena is leaning towards her. The brunette stops just short of kissing her and Kara surprises herself again, by closing the distance. They kiss softly at first. Lena letting Kara get used to the feel of it, then slowly, she slips her hand up behind Kara head and gently pulls her down to deepen the kiss. The blonde emits a small gasp and Lena slips her tongue over Kara's teeth. It's Lena's turn to gasp, when Kara slips an arm around her and pulls her in, their tongues duel for control of the kiss and a moment later they pull apart slowly, each trying to catch their breath.

"Wow, that was just wow," Kara exclaims.

"I hope that we can do that again... soon," Lena replies as the car pulls up in front of Kara's building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning is the one day of the week that Carter sleeps in and Cat has several hours to herself. Humming softly, she pours herself a steaming hot cup of coffee and heads into her home office. Curious to see if anything newsworthy happened last night, she sets the cup down and picks up the remote to turn on the tv. Then she sits down at the desk and pulls up the CATCO website on her laptop. Picking her coffee up again, she is about to take a sip when a photo of Kara Danvers pops up on the screen and she almost drops the cup.

Grabbing the remote she turns it up so that she can hear the story.

"Lena Luthor, the honoree of the MET Gala surprised everyone with this mysterious gal pal," the announcer begins and cuts to Lena's quip... "This is my guest this evening, I'm confident that you can figure out who she is without my help."

Cat groans as they tighten the shot to just the two women. Lena gazing proudly at Kara on her arm. Cat hits mute again, then pulls her laptop closer and begins clicking through the photo gallery of the Gala coverage. What the hell is Kara Danvers doing with Lena Luthor, Cat asks herself. Quickly, she switches tabs to look over the CATCO coverage of the same event and sees the same photos of Kara and Lena cozy at the Gala. Cat grabs her phone and is about to text Kara, but then reconsiders that action and scrolls through her contacts before selecting one and placing the call from her desk phone.

"Carr," he grumbles into the phone after letting it almost ring through to voicemail.

"Lucus, have you seen the Gala coverage?" Cat asks abruptly.

"Yeah, it's kind of why I'm at work on a Sunday," he grumbles taking a loud slurp of his coffee.

Cat shudders at the sound. "This coverage is all wrong," she says angrily, "It looks like our reporter is there on a date with the honoree. This is unacceptable, Lucas!"

"Well she attended the event as Lena Luthor's guest," Carr replies. "I think the photographer misunderstood the assignment," he explains.

"Ms Danvers attended the event with Lena Luthor?" Cat asks sharply. She can't believe that she is understanding the man correctly. "Why in god's name would you have her cover the event if she's attending it with the honoree?" She blurts out angrily.

"Cat, Danvers cleared it with me and said that it wasn't a date. Although guessing from these photos, I'd say that the Luthor chick probably has a crush on our reporter, but I don't really care about it. Anyways, I figured it would be a good way to see how Danvers handles herself," he adds with another slurp of coffee.

Cat winces into the phone at the sound. "I'm not sure that I approve of your methods Lucas. I trusted you to train her to be a reporter and you immediately throw her to the first wolf she meets," She snaps at him.

"Hey, I told you that the girl wasn't a reporter, but you wanted me to give her a chance. So that's what I'm doing," he blurts out standing his ground. "Now look, she's on her way in here with her story, so we'll know soon enough if she was up for it."

"You've heard from her this morning?" Cat asks.

"Yeah, she just logged her first draft. Editing is reviewing it now," he replies. "I'll send you the final draft, since you're so interested," he replies snidely before abruptly ending the call.

Cat glares at the phone a moment. Unable to believe what she's hearing and annoyed as hell to see Kara wearing that beautiful gown on the arm of someone like Lena Luthor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara closes her laptop and pushes away from the desk heading into the kitchen to grab another cup of coffee. The good night kiss from Lena Luthor still lingering in her brain. She didn't expect it, but then Kara didn't expect that they would dance last night either. Shaking her head to clear it. Kara heads back to her desk to reopen the laptop and look at the gallery photos from the photo department. Her mouth falls open when she sees the multiple photos of her and Lena. Picking up her phone, she begins to call James, then remembers that he's no longer head of photography, although as CEO, he could still pull the photos. Frozen with indecision, Kara sets the phone down and picks up the cup to take another sip of the coffee. The phone buzzing almost makes her spill it, but she manages to set it down and answer the phone.

"Hey Alex," she says as calmly as she can.

"Hey Alex. Is that all you have to say for yourself this morning?" Alex barks into the phone.

"Um, so you've seen the photos from last night," Kara remarks.

"Everyone has seen the photos, Kara they are all over the internet!" Alex replies sharply.

"I'm as surprised as you are. Those pictures make it look like we were on a date," Kara complains.

"Newsflash Kara, you were on a date," Alex quips. "Don't think I didn't see you two dancing all night."

"We only danced a few times," Kara groans in response. "Why was the DEO even there last night?" she questions.

"Actually, that's why I'm calling. There's a new investigation. Can you come in today for the update?" Alex asks.

"Rao Alex, if you've opened an investigation on Lena, you're taking this overprotective sister thing a bit too far," Kara replies angrily.

"Kara, that might be what motivated me initially, but come in and we'll take you through it," Alex retorts calmly.

Kara glances at the time on her computer and blurts out, "Uh, Alex I-I need to go. I have to face Snapper in an hour."

"Come by the DEO afterwards Kara," Alex says quickly before Kara can end the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Landing on the roof at CATCO, Kara easily makes her way down the stairs to her secret office. She wants to review the edits before the meeting. Pulling up the file, she is surprised to see that CGrant has logged into the system and reviewed her first draft. Her email icon lights up with 25 unread messages, so she opens Outlook to review them and groans. The photo team has identified her in the photos with Lena Luthor and they've sent her three different release requests. Scrolling through them, she stops when she sees the email from Cat Grant.

Kara, call me before you file your story, I have concerns about this assignment. C Grant

Kara glances at the time, she has twenty minutes before she has to be in Snapper's office. Quickly she calls Cat and takes a deep breath while it's ringing.

"Kara," Cat says calmly answering the phone.

"Ms Grant," Kara replies. "Y-you read my first draft?"

"Yes, after seeing the photos from the Gala, I was concerned about your objectivity," Cat admits. "But it seems that I needn't have worried, your report is balanced and doesn't appear biased in anyway. Those photos however are going to complicate things," she points out.

"Yes, I-I didn't realize that they were taking so many pictures of us," Kara says nervously clearing her throat.

"Well, I've told James to fix this," Cat remarks.

"You talked to James already this morning?" Kara questions.

"Yes, and I've informed Snapper that he needs to supervise you more closely, this is unacceptable that you were allowed to cover the event while dating the honoree," Cat seethes.

"Ms Grant I'm not. I am not dating Lena Luthor," Kara responds quickly.

"I should hope not," Cat remarks and Kara hears the unmistakable sound of relief in her voice. "Just watch out for her Kara, she may not be as bad as her brother, but she is still a Luthor."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The editing meeting ends and Kara is pleased that her story is mostly intact for a change. But just as she's about to leave, Snapper calls her back.

"Hey Ponytail," he calls out to her.

"Yes sir," Kara says stepping back into the conference room, inwardly flinching at being called back.

"What's going on with you and Luthor?" He asks gruffly, "You said that you two weren't dating but these pictures, they tell a different story, Snapper says jabbing at the photos on his tablet.

"We're not dating, but I think that she is interested in dating me," Kara admits shyly.

"Are you interested in dating her?" Snapper questions.

"Uh, no. I, um, I'm not sure," Kara stammers and fidgets with her glasses.

"Okay, well you need to figure that out, she's a good source for you," he points out. "You probably need to figure out if you want a career or a girlfriend, this kind of thing can screw you up."

"Yes sir," Kara replies and is about to ask him for advice, when his phone rings and he picks it up and waves her off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in her office, Kara is reviewing the story and the photo spread. At least the editorial team used photos of Kara talking to different people, so they can balance out what other outlets are posting. And research managed to track down several of them to get quotes for photo captions, which also deflects what the other outlets are reporting.

Nervously, she opens up another tab to check what their rivals are posting. The early coverage was all about Lena Luthor and her mystery date. Now that CATCO has released the story with Kara's name and photo, the coverage is being tweaked, although now it's just speculating on whether Lena knew that she was taking a reporter to the event. Kara groans, apparently no one reads her by-lines, she grumbles to herself.


	6. Cat Fight

Kara sits stone still and Alex knows that she needs to allow her to absorb the information, but there's more that she needs to hear.

J'onn looks over at Alex and she nods, so he begins.

"Kara, last night, while you two were at the Gala, I went to L-Corp and took another look at the alien detection device from Lena's office," he begins and waits for her to acknowledge what he's said.

"You broke into her office?" Kara asks.

"Not exactly, but we had to know more about that device," he answers. "What we found by comparing the prototype from her lab to the one in her office is that the devices do not work the same. The one in her office showed blue to indicate human, but the one one in the lab showed blue to indicate non-human." J'onn adds.

"Wait, you're saying that Lena is an alien?" Kara blurts out the question.

"No, we're saying that she's not human," Alex interjects. "Kara, she was attacked by an alien from Colu when she was 16."

"That's not possible," Kara replies. "The people of Colu are a superior race, they don't interact with humans and they would never attack one."

"Maybe, but this one did. Probably because Lex Luthor was experimenting on it. It attacked Lena because it was desperate to escape," J'onn explains.

"This is all so hard to believe," she says finally. "The Luthors hated my cousin and tried to kill him. Now you're saying that their daughter is what? A meta and they didn't do anything about it?"

"We believe that she's being controlled by her family," J'onn replies.

"Uh, what do you mean being controlled by her family?" Kara asks worriedly.

"There's a chance that the Luthors are using a neurological link embedded in her brain from when the Colu attacked her," Alex explains.

Kara takes a deep breath and exhales it slowly. This is all too much to take, considering what happened between her and Lena last night. Is it possible that Lex is using Lena to get close to her, just so he can try to kill her? Kara stands up quickly, "I-I need to go," she blurts out.

"Kara, wait. We need to talk about this, y-you've gotten close to her," Alex says softly moving towards her sister.

"That's why I need to go Alex. I need to talk to Kal-El," she replies before rushing past Alex to leave.

"Maybe you should go after her," Alex suggests turning to J'onn.

"No, she'll be fine. She just needs a little time," he says before turning to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asks concerned.

"I'm going to Stryker's Island to see Lex Luthor for myself," J'onn replies firmly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Lena asks when she answers the door. It's just like her mother to show up unannounced after failing to show up when invited.

"You didn't answer when I called earlier, so I decided to stop by," Lillian replies pushing past her daughter to enter the penthouse apartment.

"I missed you at the Gala last night," Lena says slightly annoyed to be caught screening her calls.

"It couldn't be avoided, darling. We're working on a new project and I couldn't get away. But I saw the news this morning and your date was beautiful," Lillian replies cupping her daughter's face.

"Thanks Mom, she wasn't my date though. She's the reporter from CATCO, Kara Danvers" Lena replies, watching her mother carefully to see if she reacts to Kara's name.

"Danvers?" Lillian repeats to herself, "I used to know a Danvers," she comments, before closing in on Lena to add, "Darling, you look feverish. Are you feeling well?"

"You always say that and I'm always fine," Lena protests.

"Just let me check," Lillian replies pushing her daughter down into a chair and taking out a small pen light. She flashes it quickly into the girl's eyes until Lena's eyes turn black.

"Now let's see how you did last on your date with Supergirl last night," Lillian murmurs under her breath as she places a small device to Lena's forehead for a minute or two until it beeps. Then she pulls out her phone and connects the device as she walks over to sit at the dining table. As soon as the download finishes, she begins skimming through the video stopping it whenever she sees the two women talking privately. At the end she watches the kiss and rolls her eyes dramatically before walking back over to Lena.

"I suppose that kiss could be usable in the future, but honestly Lena, you can do so much better than an alien," Lillian declares as she leans in close to whisper new commands to her daughter. Then she snaps her fingers and Lena's eyes blink back to their normal color.

"How do you feel now?" Lillian asks feigning concern.

"Fine, what happened?" Lena asks.

"Nothing darling, everything is fine," Lillian says soothingly. "I should really be going now, but let's have lunch this week," she says leaning in a hugging her lightly before leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's Kara? I thought that she was meeting with you here?" Winn asks when he and Mon-El arrive that afternoon.

"She went to see Kal-El," Alex replies glancing up at them. "Oh hey, since you're here, can you help me with something?"

"Sure,' Winn says sitting down beside her. "Uh, Alex why are you looking at security feeds from Stryker's Island?" He asks alarmed.

"J'onn is going to see Lex Luthor, but there's something wrong. Here's his inmate number, but that isn't him," Alex says pointing to the screen.

"That's definitely not him, let me look at something," Winn says and takes over the console. A few minutes later, he turns to her and says, "Alex, the warden's manifest states that Lex is assigned to Wing X at Stryker's Island."

"Okay, so where's Wing X?" Alex questions looking at the layout on the other screen, showing the base map for Stryker's.

"That's just it, there is no Wing X on the island," Winn explains.

"What do you mean he isn't there? Superman escorted him to Stryker's five years ago, he personally handed him over to the warden," Alex barks at him.

"Jeez, don't shoot the messenger," Winn says holding up his hands.

"Who is Lex Luthor?" Mon-El asks from behind them.

"Lex Luthor is this rich guy who hates Superman and tried to killed him," Alex replies.

"Except he's not in prison," Winn adds.

"You need to find out where he is," Alex says sharply.

"See if I ever come by on a Sunday again," Winn mutters to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He was transferred to Cadmus," J'onn informs Alex over the comms a half hour later.

"Cadmus? How do you know that?" Alex asks.

"That's not important," he grumbles. "We need to figure out how he got transferred there. Then we'll need to plan how to get in there." J'onn points out.

"Winn is on it now sir," Alex replies, gesturing for him to start calling people. "And we don't know where Cadmus is," she counters carefully.

"We will know it's location when I return," J'onn replies confidently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carter is downstairs playing video games with his new friend, which means that Cat is upstairs chomping at the bit to find out more about this situation with Kara. Any other time she would just head over to the newsroom, but since she's turned the reins over to Olsen, she can't just barge in there. Instead, she logs into the mainframe and clicks into the CATCO Intranet to see what's coming in across the local wire. Cross checking it with social media, she discovers a photo of Lena Luthor entering her building ten minutes ago. "Well, well look who's working on a Sunday," Cat muses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Fortress of Solitude Kara and Kal-El are going over everything that has happened with Lena Luthor over the past few weeks and also everything that Alex and J'onn told her.

"What do you think that we should do?" Kara asks frustrated and worried.

"I hope that this isn't true, but if anyone would do this, it would be the Luthors," Kal-El replies pacing slowing in front of her. "I shouldn't have taken you with me to see Lena Luthor as Clark Kent," he softly chastises himself.

"Kal do you think that they will target Alex and Eliza or just me?" Kara questions worriedly.

"They'll target you first. And since they've established a friendship between you and Lena, you're going to need to be very careful around her," Kal advises. "In fact, I would limit contact between you two until we can figure out their plan of attack."

"D-do you think that she knows?" Kal looks confused for a moment, so she adds. "Lena. Do you think that Lena knows they are in her head?"

"I don't have enough information about the neural link, but maybe Alex can tell us," Kal-El points out.

"She seems so sincere. It's hard to believe that this is all a setup," Kara exclaims in frustration.

"Kara, what are you saying? Are you involved with her?" Kal-El asks abruptly.

"No Kal. Her family tried to kill you, I wouldn't do that," Kara reassures him. Mentally kicking herself for allowing Lena to get close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cat Grant, what a surprise," Lena exclaims when she looks up to see the media mogul striding into her office.

"I guess it is, since you don't seem to have any staff here with you, why anyone could just waltz right in," Cat chides.

"Well Cat, I don't require my staff to wait on me hand and foot," Lena replies coyly, closing her laptop and setting it on top of her open file. "Now what could possibly have happened that would bring Cat Grant to my office on a Sunday?"

"You crossed a line Ms Luthor. Inviting one of my reporters to be your guest last night and then making everyone think that she was your date," Cat says disgustedly. "It's quite beneath you, but I'm sure with the name Luthor, it's difficult to get many dates," Cat retorts pointedly.

"I'd guess that you know a lot about that Cat, since the last guy you were linked to was John Stamos. Or was that for the free yogurt?" Lena questions sarcastically.

Ignoring the dig at her personal life, Cat continues, "I don't yet know exactly what you are up to Ms Luthor, but I strongly urge you to leave Ms Danvers out of it. I will not allow you to use her as a pawn in this game you're playing," Cat retorts as she eyes the younger woman dangerously.

"Ah, the Queen is afraid to lose one of her pawns. Well you should know that Kara is much more than a pawn to me, Cat. In fact, I see her as more of a knight but she definitely has rook potential," Lena quips.

Cat flinches slightly, but maintains her composure.

"So this is nothing more than a game to you," Cat accuses stepping around the desk to intimidate her.

Lena stands up, "It's a lot more than a game to me. But you should be careful Cat, I am beginning to think that you're jealous," she taunts.

"I don't see anything here to be jealous of Ms Luthor," Cat snarls turning away from her.

"Hmm, well in my limo last night, things got a bit heated between Kara and I, but then I'm not the kind of girl who kisses and tells," Lena exclaims feigning embarrassment.

Cat flushes with anger and Lena smiles smugly as she walks behind her desk.

"I know exactly what kind of girl you are Ms Luthor. And I know that despite all of this," Cat pauses to gesture around the office, "despite all of this, you've never been anything more than a pawn to the Luthor family," she scoffs. "And don't think for a moment that I don't know that this re-branding effort is just another pathetic attempt to redeem the Luthor name."

Lena seethes in anger and Cat knows that she's hit her mark.

"Steer clear of Ms Danvers and maybe I won't completely expose this charade," Cat offers looking her in the eye for a moment before turning to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara is soaring high above L-Corp when she spots a black Towncar leaving. Curious, she stares into it and is surprised to see Cat Grant. Deciding to follow it, she is surprised again when it pulls into CATCO. Wondering if James is still in his office, Kara lands on the balcony quickly and he walks out to greet her.

"Hey Supergirl," he says as he opens the door.

"James, Ms Grant is on her way up, I just followed her from L-Corp," Kara says quickly.

"Okay, not sure why she went to L-Corp, but I am expecting her. She called me earlier and asked me to meet her here," he explains.

"Why?" Kara questions.

"Wait, why were you at L-Corp?" He asks.

"I wasn't, I was just... you know never mind, she's here," Kara exclaims before taking off.

James shakes his head as he watches her go, then closes the balcony door and walks over towards the bullpen to greet Cat.

She strides out quickly as soon as the elevator doors open, barely glancing around the empty bullpen before zeroing in on James.

"Mr Olsen, I'm pleased that you could make it," Cat utters as she breezes past him into the office.

Turning in her wake to follow, "It didn't exactly sound optional," he remarks.

Cat sets her purse down on the couch and takes off her sunglasses. "We need to discuss this situation with Kara and Lena Luthor," she replies ominously.

"I'm not sure what you mean. Kara's interviewed her a few times and they are friends now," James volunteers.

"Luthors don't have friends," Cat sneers. "You're a fool if you don't think Lena Luthor has an angle. Now let's put our heads together and figure out what it is."

"Favorable publicity. Lena Luthor is all about rebranding L-Corp," James points out.

"If that were true, then why is she developing an alien detection device?" Cat questions. "It goes against everything that she now purports to stand for."

"Okay, so maybe she sees Kara as a young and gullible reporter who she can manipulate," James suggests next.

"That could be true and is most likely part of it, but I suspect not all of it," Cat warns.

"Cat what exactly are you implying?" James blurts out in frustration.

"Let me spell it out for you Mr Olsen, Lena Luthor knows that Kara Danvers is Clark Kent's cousin. Clark Kent is the reason that her brother is rotting in a cell on Stryker's Island. Now don't you think it's a bit too coincidental that the first person that Lena Luthor cozies up to in National City is Clark Kent's cousin?" Cat inquires.

"Oh well when you put it that way, I guess we should warn Kara," he says reaching for his phone.

"And say what exactly? She has to know all of this and obviously it does not concern her. We need to call him, he can talk some sense into her," Cat replies hopefully. "Now, surely you can reach him on a weekend?"

James smiles. Now he understands why Cat brought this to him. Shrugging he picks up the phone and dials Clark's cell.

"Clark, hey," James says into the phone. "Uh, I'm here with Cat and we have something that we'd like to discuss with you, may I put you on speaker?"

Nodding, James sets the receiver down and punches the button.

"Hello Clark," Cat says sweetly. "Sorry to call you on a Sunday, but this is too important to wait," she adds.

"It's fine, Cat. I'm a reporter, not a banker," Clark jokes.

James and Cat spend the next few minutes telling Clark everything that has happened and their concerns for Kara's safety.

"Have either of you mentioned these concerns to Kara?" Clark asks clearing his throat nervously.

One look at Cat's impending explosive response and James quickly replies, "Clark, we're certain that Kara knows all of this. What we don't understand is why would she consider letting Lena get this close to her?"

"Well, you are right in that she does know these things," Clark confesses.

"Clark, so she is consulting you?" Cat interjects.

"She is, but you've told me a bit more than she has and I agree that these photos are troubling. I hadn't realized how close they had gotten," Clark admits reluctantly before adding. "It's great that Kara has people like you who care so much for her, but you don't need to worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried. I am furious. I am going to assemble a team of reporters to research every patent filed by Luthor Corp and L-Corp in the past ten years, and every quarterly report. We'll do background investigations of all of their top level staff. We won't leave any stones unturned," Cat threatens angrily as she pounds on the desk.

"Ms Grant," Clark says calmly giving her a minute. "Ms Grant have you considered how that's going to look?"

Cat blinks and then places a hand over her mouth. Cat was so caught up in the thought of Kara being hurt by the Luthors, that she actually hadn't considered how it would look if CATCO suddenly launched a massive investigation into them.

"You make an interesting point," Cat admits as she turns to walk around the desk. "Perhaps it would be better if I work on this myself out of my home office," she suggests.

"Cat, investigating the Luthors is dangerous. You can't do it alone," James declares.

"Clark, perhaps you'd like to work on this with me?" Cat asks not directly reacting to James' remark.

"I can tell that you're not going to leave this alone, so what choice do I have," Clark responds. "And it would make more sense for me to look into it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sawyer," Maggie says answering the call without looking.

"Hey, can you meet me in ten minutes? I need to talk to you privately," Alex asks keeping her voice low so as not to be overheard.

"Uh, sure. But where are you?" Maggie asks.

"I'm ten minutes from your place," Alex admits.

"Good thing I'm home then," Maggie replies.

"Yeah, except can we meet down the street at that park?" Alex proposes.

"Yeah, what's with all the cloak and dagger Agent?" Maggie asks just a bit concerned.

"I wanted to update you on our previous conversation," Alex says cryptically.

A few minutes later, Maggie is jogging over to the park in full running gear when she spies Alex sitting on a bench.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Maggie asks smirking and glancing around.

"Nice running gear," Alex teases lightly as Maggie sits down.

"I thought a little cover wouldn't be a bad idea, just in case," she replies smiling at the agent.

"Can't hurt," Alex agrees before taking a deep breath.

"So what's going on?" Maggie asks and Alex turns to face her and begins filling her in on everything they've found out about the Luthors.

Alex pauses and takes a deep breath. "There's one more thing," she says.

"Okay," Maggie says smiling but a little confused as to what's going on with Alex.

"It's about my sister. She not just a reporter," Alex begins.

"I know, she's also Supergirl," Maggie says confidently.

"You knew?" Alex blurts out. "Then why were you so... uh, nevermind, so how did you know?" She asks catching herself from revealing that she maybe thought Maggie was jealous of Supergirl. This isn't the time for that conversations, she realizes.

Maggie takes a long look at Alex before she answers.

"It takes more than a pair of glasses and a ponytail to hide from me," Maggie quips. "But I am surprised that you're telling me all of this," she adds seriously.

"Well, you mentioned the other day that we're on the same side," Alex points out. "And since you are on the Science task force and I've informed you that one of the top CEO's in the city is likely a meta-human bent on killing Supergirl, you should also know who Supergirl is," she explains.

"I get that, but why are you only telling me. Why not bring my whole department in on this?" Maggie inquires.

"We can't have every cop in the city knowing Supergirl's secret." Alex replies. "But I know that we can trust you. Besides, you are also the best person in the city to help us investigate the Luthors. "In fact, I'm going to reach out to your Chief and have you reassigned to us tomorrow," Alex explains.

"Oh, you mean reassigned to that FBI Alien taskforce that everyone's heard about, but doesn't actually exist?" Maggie teases.


	7. Fight and Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rainy day off is good for writing!

"Hey, where have you been?" Kara asks as she lands beside J'onn on the roof of the DEO.

"I've been busy. Come inside and I'll update all of you at the same time," he says abruptly.

Curiously, Kara follows him into the elevator.

The elevator doors open and Winn and Vasquez look up.

"Where's Agent Danvers?" J'onn barks glancing around the room.

"Right here, sir," Alex says coming up behind them "and I brought reinforcements," she says nodding for Maggie to enter.

J'onn pauses a moment to look at Detective Sawyer, before he announces, "Agent Danvers, a moment please."

Alex inwardly groans, but she's positive that they need Maggie on this.

"Director, I know what you're going to say, but we can trust her on this," Alex begins.

"I'm not questioning that, I've read her mind. I know that we can trust her, but won't this be difficult for you to work so closely with her?" He asks.

"Why would you say that?" Alex questions, before adding, "Wait, you read her mind?"

"Yes and I think it would be best for all involved if you keep your relationship with Detective Sawyer strictly professional. Any distractions now could jeopardise this whole operation. I don't think that you need me to remind you how important this is," he grumbles.

"Absolutely sir, I am 100% focused on Cadmus," Alex promises, although now she's dying to know what he read in Sawyer's mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After several hours, they have a basic plan of attack, but there are several things that they need more information about before they can implement it. J'onn tells them all to go home and come back tomorrow fresh.

"Kara, hold up," Alex says following her out into the hall.

The tall blonde hero stops and slowly turns around. "Alex, can this wait? I really need to find Mon-El," she replies.

"Let's ask Winn," Alex says turning around to look for him. "Uh, Kara how are you doing with everything? Should I come over tonight so that we can talk?" Alex offers.

"I don't know. I just, it's really hard to comprehend that this woman who has been so incredibly nice and warm actually wants to kill me," Kara blurts out.

"Kara, I know that this is difficult and confusing, but you can't risk being around her until we figure this out," Alex speculates.

"I know, but she's called me three times today and I feel terrible not answering," Kara admits.

"Then let's have a sister night. I'll bring some pot stickers and ice cream," Alex offers.

"Not tonight Alex. First I need to check in with Mon-El, then I need to fly a bit and clear my head," Kara confides.

"Okay, but just promise me that you'll call if you need anything," Alex replies moving in to give her a hug.

"I will, thank you," Kara says returning the embrace before dashing off to intercept Winn.

"Hey thanks for hanging out with Mon-El, but where is he now?" Kara asks.

"Uh, I dropped him off at your place, didn't you get my text?" Winn asks pulling his phone out of his pocket to check. "Now that's weird, it didn't send," he grumbles.

"So he's at my place?" Kara asks. "Okay good, I'll check in on him later then," she says before heading out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soaring over CATCO, Kara isn't surprised to see Cat's office, or rather James' office dark. Although she realizes that it's Cat she wants to talk to tonight. Changing direction, Kara can't help but fly near the Cat's penthouse just to be near her for a moment. Focusing until she can hear the distinct heartbeats each of the Grants, but she is surprised when she also picks up James' heartbeat. Flying closer, she sees the two of them huddled in Cat's home office. She watches Cat reach over and hang up the phone while James gathers his things together. She continues to watch James head towards the door and Cat walking him out. She waits for Cat to fix herself a drink and then steps out on her balcony.

"Good evening Ms Grant," Supergirl says landing softly beside her.

"Supergirl," Cat remarks a slight smile flickers across her face.

"I was out on patrol and noticed that you were up," the hero confesses.

"I see and does your patrol often bring you past my home?" Cat questions lightly, pausing to take a sip of her drink.

"Not as often as I like," Supergirl answers smiling broadly.

"Hmm, I was hoping that you were going to say that your bat cave is nearby," Cat quips.

"No bat caves for me," Supergirl jokes back. "And honestly I'm pretty sure there aren't any bat caves in this neighborhood."

Cat raises her glass and laughs softly at the joke.

"I have to admit, I sort of expected that you were going to leave National City," Supergirl begins carefully.

"Well it's not easy to walk away from an empire like mine. I promoted James Olsen to CEO, but now I need to ensure that the board will approve his contract," Cat explains. "The last thing that I need is for them to fire James and put their own CEO in place."

Supergirl nods her understanding and then turns to look back out over the cityscape in front of them.

"I think this view is even better than the one from your CATCO balcony," Supergirl observes.

Cat raises her glass and smiles at the complement.

Feeling encouraged, the hero continues. "I have to confess that I've missed you, especially this."

Cat raises her eyebrows lightly scoffing at the confession. "I suppose that the proper response is to invite you to stop by here to see me," Cat teases.

"Don't say it if you don't mean it Ms Grant," Supergirl replies playfully, enjoying the easy banter between them.

"I rarely say anything that I don't mean," Cat counters sincerely.

"I don't doubt that for a second," Supergirl says leaning over to bump Cat lightly, but it catches the woman off guard and she almost falls over.

"Oh my gosh, Ms Grant. I'm so sorry," Supergirl blurts out as she wraps her arms around Cat to keep her on her feet.

Suddenly face to face and practically breathing the same air, Cat gasps softly as she stares into the bluest eyes that she has ever seen or rather make that the second bluest.

Quickly stepping back, Supergirl apologizes again and Cat dismisses it. "Kara, I'm fine," she huffs slightly embarrassed.

"Ms Grant, I'm Supergirl," the hero corrects her quickly, but her eyes have a slightly panicked look that Cat has seen a hundred times in the past few years.

"Kara, relax. I've known since before Myriad," Cat explains gently. "And you can trust me with your secret, I have no desire to unmask you," she adds with a small chortle.

"Ms Grant," the hero begins pulling up to her full height as she debates whether to try to persuade her otherwise.

Cat rolls her eyes and is about to argue when Kara takes a deep breath and holds out her hands to surrender.

"Ms Grant, please know this was never about trust," she replies honestly.

The admission surprises Cat, she had assumed that Supergirl was hiding her identity to prevent being unmasked.

Kara notes her expression and quickly continues. "I thought by not revealing myself to you, it would keep you out of danger from those who want to harm me."

"And what about the danger that I've put you in?" Cat asks and Kara flinches in surprise.

"Why would you say that Ms Grant?"

"Have you forgotten that both Livewire and Siobhan Smythe attacked you because of me?" Cat reminds her.

"Livewire had many reasons to attack Supergirl and Siobhan and Kara had their own disagreements, Ms Grant," Kara points out.

"That may be, but the fact remains that I hired both of them and they both attacked you," Cat counters.

Kara looks away, she doesn't agree but she also knows that she won't win this argument.

"Everything that I've done since Myriad is to try to help you and protect your identity," Cat confesses. "Kara, both the promotion and the office were designed to make it easier for you to be both Supergirl and Kara Danvers."

The hero considers this a moment and turns slightly away as she considers this information.

Cat watches her closely before reaching out to touch her arm and turn her around.

"Kara, have you considered that Lena Luthor could have chosen any city in the country to relocate L-Corp, but she chose National City, home of Supergirl. Has it occurred to you that the Luthor family may be targeting you to get back at your cousin and getting close to Lena Luthor could be quite dangerous?" Cat questions.

"Yes, but what if Lena isn't targeting me, but seeking my protection," Kara proposes.

"Hmm," Cat hums contemplating Kara's remark. "I suppose anything is possible," she adds turning to face the hero. "Which also means that it's possible that the Luthor's are using her as bait to get to you."

Kara doesn't respond right away. She's remembering that Cat was at L-Corp earlier today, but Kara doesn't want to bring it up now. 

Cat observes her quietly a moment before asking. "Is that what you were doing at the Gala? Protecting her?"

"No, I, um, I just went because she asked me," Kara admits sheepishly.

Cat picks up her drink and takes another long sip. "I see," she says softly, as she thoughtfully begins pulling at her necklace.

"Ms Grant, I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable," Kara apologizes.

"I'm not uncomfortable, Kara," Cat says hoping to reassure her. "But this revelation is a bit surprising, I've seen you mooning over James Olsen for so long, I hadn't considered that you were anything but heterosexual," she admits although she's a bit more intrigued by the girl now, if that is even possible.

Kara flushes a bit, embarrassed to be discussing this with Cat Grant. But determined to explain it properly.

"On Krypton same sex relationships were normal. Of course, children were born of the Codex, not naturally like they are here." Kara takes a moment to explain the Codex in more detail.

Cat turns abruptly to face her. "Were you born of the Codex?" She asks.

"No, my generation was one of the last before the Codex was made mandatory to control the population," Kara replies.

"So you were the child of your parents?" Cat asks to clarify her understanding.

"Yes," Kara confirms.

"And your cousin, Superman?" Cat asks.

"Kal-El was born twelve years after me, so he is of the Codex. His parents' DNA was analyzed and he was created to be the perfect combination of both," she adds.

"I've always thought that Clark Kent was just a bit too perfect," Cat says lightly with a small smile.

Kara shakes her head, of course Cat would realize that Clark is Superman.

Then realizing what else Kara said, she adds, "Explain how it's possible that he's younger than you?"

"Ms Grant, I was sent here to protect him," Kara says tearfully, the memory of it all flooding back to her. "But things didn't go as planned, and he arrived here before me," she says her voice breaking a little. 

Cat reaches out to her, placing her hand on Supergirl's arm.

"Thank you sharing this with me Kara," Cat whispers tenderly.

Kara doesn't look up, she just pulls Cat into her arms as she's done before.

"It's an honor to get to know more about you," Cat murmurs softly as she wraps her own arms around the hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lying awake a few hours later, Cat replays the entire conversation over in her head. Her head still spinning over the fact that not only is Kara Supergirl, but Clark Kent is Superman. How is it possible that both heroes managed to hide right in front of her? And if she were to be honest, discovering that Kara is somehow closer to her age, makes her feel better about savoring the feeling of being in Kara's arms again. Not to mention the fact that she has fantasized often about kissing Kara Danvers, but has never even considered acting on it. Cat has always assumed that the girl would acquiesce easily to her bidding. But now, knowing and seeing Kara and Supergirl as one, Cat realizes that there is a depth there that she almost missed and naivety is not exactly an act, but a shield that Kara uses to protect herself. Closing her eyes, Cat can imagine turning to the hero and wrapping her arms around her before pulling her in for a kiss. And Kara would not only return the kiss, she would take control of it. Pressing Cat against the balcony wall, their bodies tightly pressed together, the kiss deepening... A slight moan escapes Cat's lip startling her out of the fantasy. Glancing around the room, she watches the curtains blow in the slight ocean breeze as she drifts off to sleep.

It only took Kara a few minutes to fly home. She glances at a note from Mon-El informing her that he went out for a drink. She rolls her eyes. Well, she's going to grab a shower before heading out to retrieve him from the alien bar.

As the water cascades down around her, Kara's mind plays back to the scene on the patio. Holding Cat in her arms, Kara realizes that she desperately wanting to kiss her. And judging by the way Cat was looking at her, it seemed like something that they both wanted at that moment. It was so much more intense than what she felt in the limo with Lena.

Kara shakes her head to clear it, realizing that it is unlikely that Cat Grant would be interested in a relationship with her. Especially now that she knows for certain that Kara is Supergirl. Who in their right mind would want to be involved with a superhero? Deciding to refocus or she will obsess over this all night, Kara replays her interactions with Lena Luthor one by one. She just isn't seeing anything that would make her think that the woman is anything other than sincere in their interactions. She felt her tremble with excitement when they kissed and Kara's no expert, but she doesn't think anyone can fact that.

Slipping on jeans and a long sleeve blouse, Kara plays back the kiss again and comes to the same conclusion, there's no way that Lena Luthor wants to kill her. You can't kiss someone like that if you're out for revenge, can you? She wonders as she finishes up in the bathroom and heads out to the living room to grab her phone and keys.

Landing in the alley outside the bar, Kara looks around and is surprised that the usual aliens aren't standing around by the door. Entering the bar, she's surprised again to see it almost empty. She's only been here a few times, but she's sure that this isn't normal.

"Uh, where is everyone tonight?" Kara asks sitting down at the bar.

"The word on the street is that there's been a few aliens picked up by the government, so I think everyone's laying low tonight," the bartender explains. "I was considering closing early," she adds.

"What do you mean picked up?" Kara asks. "The Alien Amnesty Act protects us from unlawfully being detained," she adds.

"Well, someone must have forgot to tell the government thugs about that," the bartender grumbles.

"Uh, well I'm looking for someone who was headed here tonight. Have you seen him?" Kara asks pulling up a photo of Mon-El on her phone.

The bartender shakes her head no. "I've seen him a lot lately, but no, he hasn't been in tonight. Like I said hardly anyone has been in," she remarks.

Kara steps away from the bar and calls Alex.

"Kara, what's up?" Alex asks immediately.

"I'm not sure, but I'm at the alien bar and no one's here. Mon-El said he was going out, but he's not been in all night according to the bartender.

"Well, maybe he went somewhere else?" Alex suggests.

"No, this is the only place he goes after that incident with Winn. Alex, the bartender heard a rumor that the government is picking up aliens," Kara adds worriedly.

"Let me make some calls, but Kara stay there. I'm on my way," Alex replies.

"Sawyer," Maggie says answering the call.

"Hey, something is up at the bar. Can you meet me there?" Alex asks rapidly into the phone.

"I'm almost there. What's going on?" Maggie questions with concern.

"Kara is there and it's practically empty. She asked the bartender what was going on, and she told her that the government is rounding up aliens," Alex explains.

"Hold on, why do they think it's the government?" Maggie asks as turns the corner and notes that the alley entrance to the bar is empty.

"I'm not sure, but see what you can find out when you get there. I'm about five minutes out," Alex answers.

"Okay, I'm here now and I have eyes on Kara," Maggie says ending the call as she enters the bar.

"Maggie," Kara says heading over to greet her.

"Jeesh, I've never seen it this empty before," Maggie remarks glancing around the empty bar.

"Yeah, I know. And my friend Mon-El is missing, is NCPD working the streets picking up unregistered aliens?" Kara questions.

"Definitely not. Besides the registry is voluntary Kara, you know that," Maggie reassures her.

"Well, then who could be rounding up aliens?" Kara asks, crinkling her brow before explaining further, "The bartender heard that a black van pulled up and grabbed two aliens down the street."

Maggie heads over to talk with the bartender and Kara heads over to talk to the only other person in the bar.

A few minutes later, the door opens and Alex walks into the bar.

"Hey, I called Hank and he's making some calls," Alex says as they all meet in the middle.

"What if Mon-El has been picked up?" Kara asks worriedly.

"We'll find him," Alex promises.

"Well that's going to be tough if we don't know who's got him," Maggie remarks, earning her a glare from Alex.

"I can't just stand around here. I need to be out looking for him," Kara snaps with concern and frustration.

"Kara, just wait. Hank's on his way and we need to figure out what's going on." Alex explains and reaches out to clasp her sister's shoulder.

As they stand around and share what they've found out so far, the door opens and the three women spin around to see Hank entering.

"Director," Alex says greeting him.

"I have Mr Schott scanning for Mon-El now," he grumbles. "What do we know?"

Kara answers, telling them everything that she found out from the bartender when she arrived, she ends with her earlier statement. "I need to go look for him!"

"You'll stay put until we know more," Hank says sharply. "It won't do to have anyone else picked up tonight," he adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Daxam?" Lillian asks looking over the unconscious alien on the stretcher.

"We're fairly sure, he looks like the one from the video," the guard explains.

"Excellent, then Supergirl and the Martian will be looking for him soon," Lillian replies with a smirk.

"We'll be ready for them," Lex says from behind his mother.

"Yes, yes we will," Lillian agrees.


	8. Proving Ground

"Wake up!" The guard grunts and kicks Mon-El to wake him.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake," Mon-El answers as he scrambles to his feet. The lead lined room makes him weak and the human guards know this and use it to their advantage.

"Eat this and clean yourself up," the guard grumbles as he sets down a bucket with soapy water and a rag. Then hands the alien a small bowl of gruel.

"This is barely food," Mon-El exclaims flinging the bowl to the floor.

"It's all you're getting until tomorrow," the guard sneers before slamming the door shut.

Mon-El paces the cramped space. If he had just kept walking and hadn't stopped to check on that man sleeping in the alley, this wouldn't have happened. Damn it, why has he let that Kryptonian get to him, soften him up. Looking out for himself above all others has always kept him safe. Now he shows an ounce of compassion and boom, he's captured by who knows who and to what purpose? Reaching down to grab the rag from the bucket, he begins washing up, at least he won't smell like a savage, even if he's being treated like one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's Cadmus. It has to be them, who else would be doing this? We already shut down Sinclair's fight club," Kara exclaims pacing back and forth.

Alex watches her sister carefully, she knows that she feels guilty for this. "Kara, let's not jump to conclusions. Intergang could have picked him up, they're always looking for new recruits," she suggests.

"Thanks Alex!" Kara replies angrily. "I just, I-I never should have gone to the Gala with Lena. Everything has gotten so screwed up since then," she adds almost tearfully.

"This has nothing to do with you going to the Gala," Alex reassures her sister.

"You went out with Lena Luthor?" Maggie questions.

"I went with her to an event, it wasn't a date," Kara explains.

"Does she know that you're Supergirl?" Maggie asks.

"No, she shouldn't. But why are you asking?" Kara inquires.

"Kara, if the Luthor's are targeting you, then they could have found out about Mon-El and captured him to draw you out," Maggie proposes.

"Lena saw him the night of the Gala, when he and Winn walked me out. But that doesn't mean anything. And she has no way of knowing that he's an alien," Kara points out.

"Well, she does have an alien detector or did you forget about that?" Alex counters.

"Wait though, since he isn't the only alien missing, this could have been another organization," Maggie reminds them. "And who's to say the bar wasn't the target?"

"Ha!" Kara says pointing at Maggie. "Besides in the past few weeks, Lena Luthor has been nothing but kind and respectful to me and those who surround her," Kara protests. "I cannot believe that she is a supervillain."

"Are you willing to bet Mon-El's life on it?" Alex asks.

"I'll go see her and find out for myself," Kara replies turning around abruptly to leave.

"Ms Danvers. You are not to go anywhere near Lena Luthor until we know for sure that she's not involved in this," Hank interjects, reaching out to lay his hands on her shoulders. "In fact, Supergirl is benched for the time being and that's an order," he snaps.

Kara shrugs off his hands angrily. "I don't work for you Hank," she snaps. "Or have you forgotten our agreement?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lena Luthor seems to have gotten under your skin," Maggie says as she enters the alcove where Supergirl is pacing to calm herself down.

Supergirl stops a moment and considers why Maggie is here instead of Alex.

"Look, I know a few things about her, about Lena Luthor," Maggie continues now leaning against the wall.

"You're from Gotham, she's from Metropolis," Supergirl remarks sharply.

"Yes, but we have an ex in common," Maggie supplies the information and waits to see if the hero understands what that means.

Supergirl turns to look at the detective. "Do you have a covert file on all of your girlfriend's exes?" The hero asks bluntly.

"Uh, no just the ones with shady backgrounds who threaten to kill me," Maggie replies, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Lena Luthor threatened you?" Supergirl asks incredulously.

"She not only threatened me, she almost got me killed," Maggie explains further.

She has the hero's full attention now, so the detective continues the story of her run in with the Luthors and how Lena's role surprised her.

"Superman saved you?" The hero guesses.

"Batgirl saved me," Maggie adds.

Supergirl nods at this. She's heard of Batgirl, but hasn't met her.

"The thing is, Lena Luthor hasn't demonstrated any behavior even remotely like that," Supergirl replies, her brows furrowed in concern.

"Would it help to know that Kate, my ex, said the same thing to me when this all began," Maggie replies. "Just come in and review the file yourself, there's a lot more to Lena Luthor than what you've seen so far. And for what it's worth, I agree with Alex's theory that her family has some sort of control over her," she adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How is she?" Alex asks when Maggie enters her office.

"She's reviewing the file," the detective replies.

"Thanks, that should help her to understand and wrap her head around this," Alex admits.

"Is it possible that your sister has a crush on Lena?" Maggie asks.

"Probably, Kara always crushes on women with power. You should see her around Cat Grant," Alex replies with wry smile. "But it's not like a crush crush, she just really admires them," the agent clarifies.

Maggie smiles at her. Nice deflection agent, she thinks to herself.

"What if it is a real crush? How would you handle that?" Maggie questions carefully.

"Kara doesn't have those kinds of crushes on women," Alex explains confidently, but now suddenly she's replaying a few scenes between Cat Grant and Kara and she's not sure.

"Maybe she just doesn't know how to talk to you about them," the detective proposes.

"We talk about everything," Alex answers, but her confidence in this conversation is lagging now.

Maggie just smirks a little and nods her head.

"I'm going to go check on her," Alex says needing to escape the room and conversation quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've tracked Mon-El's EM signature out to the desert," Winn begins as they all assemble around him to view the map he has displayed above them.

"That's in the middle of nowhere," Alex replies immediately.

"I've repositioned our satellites to monitor the area," Winn begins turning back to look at them. "Uh where's Supergirl?"

"Damn it!" Alex blurts out as a blue dot appears on the map.

"Is that her?" Maggie questions pointing at the map in awe.

"Let's move people," Hank booms. "Alex go to the armory and gear up. Take Sawyer with you. Grab everything that we might need. We don't know what we're going to face, but we need to get in there and backup Supergirl."

"Right away sir," Alex replies. "We will meet you out there."

"Check in with me when you arrive," he says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the chopper approaches, Alex opens the comms to see if she can reach J'onn or Kara.

"Supergirl, have you located the target?" She asks.

Hearing nothing but static, she reaches for the radio, "Winn, can you find us better frequency?"

"Yeah, let me try a few things, there's some sort of RF distortion affecting our comms," he explains briefly.

"Just fix it, quickly. We can't go in there blind," Alex points out.

"I am tracking the EM signature of Supergirl and she's below you about 50 yards due east," Winn replies.

"She must be underground, because there's nothing but desert as far as we can see," Alex remarks.

"Let's land over there, maybe we can track them in the sand," Maggie suggests.

"Too exposed. We're better up here," Alex responds, distracted by the voice of J'onn in her head informing her that he's with Supergirl and they've gotten in undetected. How? Alex questions in her mind. Just sit tight, he replies.

Alex nods and swears under her breath.

"What's going on? Did he switch your comms but not mine?" Maggie asks curiously.

"Uh, no but there's a friendly in there with telepathy, he's with her and they are fine," Alex confesses.

"A friendly?" Maggie questions. "Danvers, I thought that you were bringing me in on this operation. Now you're telling me that there's another operative down there that I don't know," she spits out angrily.

"You know him," Alex replies quickly. "It's the Martian from the fight club, he works with us sometimes," she adds.

Maggie deflates a bit, at least she will know him on sight.

"Uh, sorry Hank brought him in to back her up," Alex explains. "I just found out that he was here."

"Okay, so where's Henshaw? I don't see his chopper," Maggie replies looking around again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mon-El is just down this corridor," J'onn says softly to Supergirl. They've managed to infiltrate the compound without being detected so far, but they both know that it could be a ruse setting up an ambush.

Supergirl holds up her hand, "There are 3 or 4 heartbeats down there, it could be a trap," she explains as they stop at a closed metal door.

J'onn closes his eyes and focuses on the area ahead. "I've got Mon-El and two guards. The guards are tired at the end of their shift," he replies.

They both nod and move swiftly, Kara uses her heat vision to zap the door welds and J'onn yanks it out of the way.

The two guards spin towards them firing several rounds that just bounce off Supergirl. She advances on them quickly, crushing the weapons easily. They each pull a Kryptonite knife out of their belts and J'onn steps in front of her to block them.

"I've got this," he says as they take a swipe at him, but he blocks both of them and shoving them into the wall. One of the knives falls to the ground and Hank stomps on it crushing it beneath his boot and kicking the remnants away, before grappling over the remaining knife with the other guard as Supergirl easily dispatches the now unarmed guard.

Turning to the door, she realizes it's lead and she can't see through it, so instead she yanks it off it's hinges.

Mon-El looks up from the floor and Kara goes to him.

"Are you okay?" She asks kneeling beside him and helping him up.

"Lead. Too much lead," he gasps falling into her arms.

"I've got you," she grunts pulling him up and over her shoulder in a fireman's carry to get him out of the cell.

In the hallway, she sets him down against the wall and he wakes up.

"How did you find me?" He asks groggily.

"We'll explain later, right now we need to get out of here," J'onn says quickly.

"Are you okay now?" Supergirl asks Mon-El.

"Yeah, my strength is coming back," he replies as he swallows hard and wobbling a bit as he stands up.

"Good, because we're about to be surrounded," she says moving into position so that she and J'onn are back to back. Mon-El steps up to join them recognizing the fight stance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Supergirl, how nice of you to join us," Lillian Luthor says as she steps through the shattered doorway surrounded by her men.

"Lillian Luthor," Supergirl greets her with a grimace.

"Surround them," Lillian barks to her men and the guards begin to move towards the trio.

Back to back with J'onn, she can feel his anger and knows that he will follow her lead. They both can hear and sense the another contingent of guards coming towards them from the other direction.

The guards level their guns and Supergirl looks up quickly making her move.

The hero uses her laser vision to cut a hole above them, burying the guards in debris. Grabbing Mon-El, she and J'onn burst through it and fly out through the cascade of sand.

Lex Luthor strides into the corridor and surveys the damage.

"We've underestimated her powers," Lillian growls at him.

"You're right Mother, she passed this test with flying colors," Lex points out thoughtfully. "Not to worry, she won't pass the next one," he adds with a smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Above ground, Alex and Maggie watch from the chopper as Supergirl and J'onn suddenly burst through the desert floor.

"There," Maggie shout first and Alex instructs the pilot to land quickly.

As soon as the chopper lands, Supergirl helps Mon-El into it. "Take him back to the DEO and check him out, he's had prolonged exposure to lead," she explains still brushing sand off her suit.

"I'm fine, Kara, and I'm staying to fight alongside you," Mon-El protests as he brushes sand off his face and clothes.

"There will be no more fighting today, we need to plan our attack," J'onn replies before adding, "The Luthors are Cadmus."

"Wait, you saw Lex there?"Alex asks.

"Just his mother, but he was there. I'm sure of it," Kara confirms.

"What happened? How did you escape?" Maggie asks.

"We should get out of here and meet back at base and debrief there," J'onn says nodding to Supergirl before taking off.

"Lex and Lillian Luthor are Cadmus," Alex repeats as she signals for the pilot to take off.

"This is beyond bad," Maggie exclaims, then turning to Mon-El she remarks, "Uh Danvers, he doesn't look well."

Mon-El leans back in his seat and takes a breath, "I'm fine, really," he says before passing out.

Alex quickly unbuckles herself and grabs her medical bag and pulls out a stethoscope, climbing over Maggie to get to him. She pauses a moment to listen to his heart, then checks his pulse. "His vitals are weak. Daxamite's are allergic to lead," she exclaims.

"Allergic to lead?" Maggie questions.

"I'll start him on IV fluids until we can get him into the infirmary and run some tests ," Alex explains as she takes out a syringe to start an IV.

Maggie watches her work, impressed again at the agent's skills. Not everyone can switch off warrior mode and into field medic, what can't she do, the detective wonders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supergirl and J'onn J'onzz land on the roof of the DEO together.

"That was too easy," she points out as they touch down.

"I agree," he grunts before transforming. "But I brought this back, I want to know what they built that bunker with that they thought you wouldn't be able to penetrate it with your heat vision," J'onn says holding up a small chunk of debris.

"What if they were just testing me?" She asks.

"Well now that they know that you're stronger than your cousin," he replies punching the button for the elevator. "We've got our work cut out for us if we want to stop them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note to remind you that this one is loosely based on S2, it's not going to follow the show canon.


	9. Sleeper

Alex enters Kara's apartment and strides quickly to the couch where Kara is sitting.

"How are you?" Alex asks sitting down beside her.

"Fine. But I think I'll be washing sand out of my hair for a week," Kara grumbles.

"I analyzed the debris that J'onn brought back. It contained titanium and vanadium," Alex explains.

"They tried to line their bunker with Promethium," Kara replies.

"Yeah, fortunately the vanadium that they obtained was of a very poor quality or you wouldn't have been able to penetrate that tunnel with your laser vision," Alex remarks.

"Alex, Promethium is the strongest metal in the galaxy. If they get enough they could build a cell that I can't escape from," Kara points out.

"Well, we need to figure out how to stop them from doing that. I have been working on a way to enhance your heat vision," Alex replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How long has Lillian Luthor been working for the US Military?" Cat questions.

"We're not sure, but most likely it predates her son's arrest," Lois answers.

Cat was not pleased that Clark invited Lois to work on their investigation, but with her military contacts, she has proven to be quite useful.

"Where are we on locating Lex Luthor?" James asks.

"The warden claims that Lex is at Stryker's Island assigned to Wing X, but I happen to know that that Wing X doesn't actually exist," Clark replies. "I've flown over every inch of that prison and there is no such designated area."

"Okay, so where is he?" Cat asks.

"My sources believe that he's been moved to an undisclosed location and he's actually working for the military on a top secret project," Lois replies.

"Cadmus." Cat and Clark say together.

"Okay, so how can we confirm that both Lex and his mother are working together at Cadmus?" Cat poses the question to the group, but looks over to James who is the only one actually in the room with her, since they are holding their meeting over a secure phone connection.

"I'll make a few inquiries," Clark offers.

"Thanks Clark. Now where are we on Lena Luthor? Have we determined if she is actively working with her family or have they somehow positioned her to be a sleeper agent," Cat questions.

"Would her family really take advantage and do something like that? Isn't it more likely that she's cooperating with them?" James proposes.

"She cut off all ties with her brother after he tried to kill Superman. But her mother has been spotted visiting her in Metropolis and most recently in National City. If she's a sleeper agent, then it's most likely that Lillian is the one controlling her," Lois points out.

"It is no secret that Lillian Luthor values her son's life over her adopted daughter's. If I hadn't have arrived when I did, the girl would be dead," Clark exclaims.

Each reporter nods their head in agreement, sadly they all know just how ruthless the Luthor family can be.

"Are we sure that the Luthor's know that Kara is Supergirl?" Cat asks, causing everyone to react in surprise that she knows.

"Cat what do you mean, Kara is Supergirl?" James sputters.

"Don't bother Olsen, everyone in this room knows the truth about Kara Danvers," Cat says glancing over to him. "Did you really think that I could have helped manage the whole Myriad debacle without noticing that Supergirl was surrounded by Kara's mother and sister treating her like their own. Not to mention cousin Clark visiting from Metropolis," she scoffs.

James looks down. He's not really surprised that Cat figured it out, he is just surprised that Kara didn't tell him that it happened.

"I think we have to assume that the Luthor's know. Why else would Lena be so intent on befriending Kara," Lois mentions.

"Befriending her?" Cat snaps. "She wants much more than friendship from Kara," she adds angrily.

"Why do you say that Cat?" James asks worriedly.

"I went to see her after the gala photos came out. It was obvious to me that she had hired a photographer to take many of those photos. Those were not candid paparazzi photos," Cat exclaims.

"You believe that Lena wanted to appear to be dating Kara at the Gala?" Clark asks.

"Yes I do," Cat replies.

"To what end? Everyone knows that she dates women. And dating Kara wouldn't help her since Kara is the only reporter writing anything remotely favorable about L-Corp," Lois points out.

"Maybe she is just acting out to get her mother's attention?" James suggests.

"Clark didn't you say that you and Kara met Lena at L-Corp when you were visiting?" Lois asks.

"Yes, we did. And I'm afraid that it's my fault that the Luthors are targeting her now," he adds sadly.

"Is there any chance that Lena Luthor knows that her family is controlling her?" Cat inquires of the group.

"It's unlikely, but Cat, why are you asking?" Lois responds.

"Something that Kara said to me the other night. She wondered if maybe Lena was seeking her out for protection from her family," Cat explains.

"Well, that is an interesting idea. Perhaps I should pay Lena Luthor a visit," Lois suggests.

"It may be worthwhile, if nothing else just to see how she responds," Cat counters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Supergirl?" Lena gasps as she enters the office from the outdoor balcony. "You do realize that isn't an entrance," she adds, 'for most people' going unsaid.

"We need to talk Ms Luthor," Supergirl says getting right to the point. "It's about your family," she adds.

Lena sets her pen aside and closes her computer, unsure of what her family has done to draw the hero's attention.

"Are you aware of their involvement in Cadmus?" Supergirl inquires.

"Excuse me, my brother is in prison as you well know and my mother works for a well-known Washington Think Tank," Lena bristles at the implication about her family.

"Your mother has been in National City for months and your brother hasn't been on Stryker's Island for at least that long. Lena, they are working together and I have proof that they are behind Cadmus. Now there are people who think that you are working with them and that L-Corp is just a front," Supergirl informs her.

"No, no I'm not like them," Lena protests. "Look, I may not be comfortable around aliens in general, but I do see the value in having aliens like you working to protect us," she replies hoping the hero will believe her.

"Did you know that they've been kidnapping aliens for over a month now. Recently, they kidnapped a friend of mine and held him in a Promethium-lined bunker in the desert," Supergirl argues. She knows that the L-Corp building was recently reinforced with with Promethium after the Metallo attacks.

"Promethium? Where would they get enough vanadium to create a Promethium lined bunker?" Lena questions. "And how were you able to...Supergirl, are you stronger than Superman?"

Supergirl ignores the last question, not entirely sure that she can trust Lena with that information.

"Our analysis shows that the Promethium they used contained a synthetic grade Vanadium," Supergirl answers her cape flipping around behind her as she paces the office.

"You have to believe me, I don't know anything about any of this, Supergirl." Lena says leaning forward in her chair. "And you have to realize that Cadmus attacked me twice," she adds.

Supergirl turns and places both her hands flat on the desk and leans in to stare the CEO right in the eyes.

"How do I know that those attacks weren't staged to create trust between us?" Supergirl proposes.

Lena's mouth gapes open as her mind reels from the question. If Lex and her mother are Cadmus, then they were either really trying to kill her or doing exactly what the hero has suggested. But creating trust between herself and the alien, would only benefit them if they could take advantage of it, she realizes.

Supergirl can see the confusion and concern on the CEO's face. She hopes that it means that Lena isn't sure about her family's intentions.

"You've stated that you came here to start over. You came here because you wanted to establish L-Corp as a force for good," Supergirl reminds her. "I need you to make good on that promise Miss Luthor. National City needs your help. I need your help. With Cadmus rounding up aliens across the city, it's only a matter of time before they capture me," she points out.

"You want me to go up against my family to rescue a bunch of aliens?" Lena counters, squirming under the unrelenting gaze of the hero.

"In times like these, anyone can be a hero Miss Luthor," Supergirl replies. 

Lena swallows anxiously. Now realizing that it was after a visit from her mother that she realized that Supergirl and Kara Danvers were the same person. And she had no recollection of discussing Kara or Supergirl that day.

"I think you can see yourself out now Supergirl," Lena all but stammers, she needs to be alone to think. And she can't do that with Supergirl in the room. She thought that she had feelings for Kara, but what if she's being manipulated by Lex and her mother. What if none of this is real?

Supergirl stands up straight and delivers another hard stare before turning on her heel and striding out to the balcony.

Lena flinches as she watches the hero take off abruptly.

Turning back to her office, she punches a button on her phone and as soon as the call is answered, she snaps, "Meet me in the research lab in thirty minutes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr Martin is standing in front of the large screen examining the scans and reports that Lena has provided.

"There is something here," he says pointing to a grey area on the scan. It is embedded into your tissue, but it's difficult to ascertain design or its purpose," the scientist admits looking over the brain scan from Lena's medical file.

"Can you remove it?" Lena asks.

"You want me to do exploratory brain surgery here in the lab on you?" The scientist questions nervously.

"Not here, but I am working to secure a more appropriate location and a neurosurgeon who can get to the implant. What I want from you is to figure out how it works and then the two of you can determine if it can be removed without damaging my brain," Lena explains.

"Hmm," the man considers his employer's request carefully. He's reviewed her medical file and expressed his concerns, but he has to admit that his curiosity is winning over his trepidation. "I'd like to consult with the surgeon first," he replies.

"That can be arranged," Lena murmurs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I didn't expect to see you tonight," Cat murmurs as the hero lands beside her on the balcony.

"I saw that you were up," Supergirl answers.

"How are you? I heard about your experience in the desert," Cat says turning to face her.

"I have sand in places where there should not be sand," Supergirl quips lightly.

Cat nods in understanding. The hero takes a deep breath before asking the question that she's here to ask.

"I need to know what you and James Olsen are working on and why you've involved Lois Lane and Clark Kent, Ms Grant?"

The media mogul rattles the ice in her now empty glass. "I'll need a refresher for this conversation," she replies before stepping back into the penthouse.

Kara closes her eyes to gather her thoughts. After challenging Lena Luthor, she impulsively decided to come here to challenge Cat Grant. Certain that Cat is investigating the Luthors and worried that she has found their link to Cadmus, Kara needs to know if she's uncovered anything that would put her in harm's way. She was merely guessing that Lois was involved, but Cat didn't dispute it. Lois is as much a risk taker as Cat, Kara knows that her cousin may not be able to keep both investigative journalists safe especially if they are working different angles.

"You are worried about me," Cat says returning to stand beside her. It isn't a question.

"I know you Ms Grant. You will dig until you get to the truth regardless of the danger," the hero points out, "And this isn't Afghanistan level danger, this will be personal. The Luthors will target you and possibly your family."

"I've taken precautions to protect my family," Cat replies, just a bit annoyed that Kara would think that she hasn't considered that.

"What about your employees? They could target CATCO, there could be many lives at stake," Kara remarks, her voice breaking slightly.

"I trust that you can keep us all safe," Cat answers confidently.

"But what if I can't?" Kara whispers tearfully.

Shocked at the emotional response, Cat turns to her, but she's met with a whoosh of air as the hero bolts away from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Striding into the DEO the next morning to check on Mon-El, Supergirl is surprised to see him still hooked up to monitors.

"Alex, what is going on?" She asks storming into her sister's office. "I thought that he was recovering?"

"Mon-El's cells began collapsing early this morning. We think that there was lead dust in the air and that he must of ingested it. He may need a blood transfusion. I'm running some tests now. I'll know more soon," Alex explains.

"A blood transfusion, but Alex he's the only Daxamite on the planet," Kara exclaims.

"Well Kryptonian and Daxamite blood have similar properties, I'm running tests now for compatibility," Alex replies.

"Okay, whatever it takes. I'm not losing anyone else," Kara says firmly.

J'onn bursts into the lab. "You were under strict orders to stay away from Lena Luthor," he bellows.

"And I told you that I am not one of your agents," Kara reminds him.

"You are an asset of the DEO and it is imperative that we work together, especially with so many alien lives at stake," J'onn points out.

"Lena Luthor isn't our enemy," Kara counters.

"You don't know that. Her family could be controlling her," he retorts.

"I guess we'll find out soon, because I told her about her family's involvement in Cadmus," Kara informs him.

"Oh Kara," Alex gasps from behind her sister. "If she isn't working with her family, she could try to deactivate that implant."

"I-I didn't think of that," Kara admits. "I should go check on her," the hero adds turning to leave.

"No, you've done enough. I'll go," J'onn says grabbing her arm. "I can get in and out of there undetected," he reminds her.


	10. House of Cards

"Good morning Clark," Kara says answering her phone brightly.

"Uh, it may not be that good, Kara. Lois is in National City and I think that she's going to confront Lena Luthor," Clark explains.

"But I confronted her last night," Kara blurts out. "I told you about it," she adds.

"I know, I know, but after we talked I was called out and when I got back, she was already gone. She left a note to tell me that she'd gone there, to National City," he replies. "She's not answering her phone, so she may be at L-Corp already."

"I'll try to intercept her," Kara replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lois flew the red-eye out to National City and now it's 8 am and she is having coffee down the street from L-Corp, planning to ambush Lena Luthor when she arrives.

She doesn't have to wait long, as soon as she spots the limo coming down the street, she tosses her coffee into a trash bin and moves closer to the front entrance.

Lois waits until the CEO is out of the car.

"Excuse me Ms Luthor?" She says politely and the woman turns around.

Lena frowns as soon as she realizes who it is. "I don't have time for this Ms Lane," she bristles as she nods to her driver for assistance.

The driver steps in between them, "You should make an appointment if you want to meet with Ms Luthor," he advises.

"Ms Luthor, I know about the Colu attack," Lois blurts out.

Lena stops in her tracks and glances back at the reporter. Holding up her hand, she calls out, "Scott, wait just a moment. I need a moment with Ms Lane in the car. Alone."

Lois smirks smugly. As the CEO passes her and climbs back into the limo, gesturing for Lois to join her.

"I have been told that the Colu are a peaceful people. Secure in their superior knowledge and advanced technology, they consider us to be too primitive to be of any concern to them," Lois remarks once they are seated opposite each other. "In fact the only way to provoke one of their species is to endanger it, and even then it's not likely to attack when it can outsmart and evade almost any opponent."

Lena doesn't respond. She's done the research. She is well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Colu species.

"You were attacked by a Colu because your brother was somehow able to capture one. His experiments on it were akin to torture and when you accidentally wandered into his lab and saw the creature in pain, you tried to help it. But instead it attacked you. You suffered a severe brain injury and were rescued by Superman," Lois continues.

"Ancient history Ms Lane. I'll guess that your information is derived from your relations with the man in blue. Did he mention that I almost died because of him. It was my father who saved me. Not Superman. Superman almost killed me," Lena counters angrily. "Now why are you here Ms Lane?"

"I'm here because your family hasn't stopped torturing aliens. In fact, I have it on good authority that they are working with a secret government agency to destroy the alien population," Lois replies.

"These are serious allegations, Ms Lane," Lena says crossing her arms and leaning back.

"They are facts," Lois retorts. "Take this and see for yourself," the reporter adds, handing over a small jumpdrive, before opening the door and exiting the vehicle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking down the street, she smiles to herself thinking that it couldn't have gone better.

"Lois!" Kara calls to her in a loud whisper.

The reporter rolls her eyes as she watches Supergirl transform back into Kara Danvers in the alley.

"You're much better at that than your cousin is," she remarks.

"He's worried about you," Kara answers taking the other woman's arm as they begin walking down the street.

"He's always worried about me," Lois quips. "I just spoke with Lena and I gave her a little taste of our proof that her family is behind Cadmus," she informs her.

"You should have discussed this with me first. I'm surprised that she even spoke with you after I confronted her last night," Kara retorts.

"Well, let's just say asking her about the Colu attack was quite the ice breaker," Lois says proudly.

Kara groans and pulls Lois back. Then glancing around, she notices a park across the street. Pulling Lois along with her until they are alone on a bench, Kara hisses. "Tell me everything that you said to her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across town, Cat is digging into Lillian Luthor's supposed government contract. She had to request the records of numerous other contractors to cover her tracks. And it has taken them half the morning to wade through all of them to find the ones that involved Lillian.

"Cat, here's another one," James says as he clicks on the print icon.

"That makes three contracts so far," Cat points out, making a note on her tablet. "What was the date on that one?"

"August 2015," James says pulling the first page off the printer.

"And the first one was August 2014," Cat mutters.

"No, the first one was May 2012, right after Lex was put away for attempting to kill Superman," James reminds her.

Cat looks up and scans her desk, before grabbing the file anthe d reviewing it again.

"This one doesn't mention anything about aliens, but it does use the term 'unlawful combatants,' which most people would assume meant terrorists," Cat comments.

"Except why would a non military facility be awarded a government contract to assess the health of suspected terrorists?" James questions.

"Not to mention that the cover organization has connections to a known black ops group, Triton," Cat retorts.

"Triton, didn't you do an expose` on them a few years back?" James asks.

"Yes, Nick Farrow was embedded in Afghanistan when he discovered that Triton was using meta-human mercenaries in their black ops teams. We didn't disclose that fact, but we did enough damage on their base of operations, that they lost several government contracts. After Olivia Marsden was elected President, she put them on a no contract list, effectively banning them from winning any more military contracts," Cat explains.

"And that is when you stepped up all of your personal security and bought this building," James says glancing around her home office nervously.

"You'll be happy to know that this floor has triple reinforced walls with titanium plates embedded between them," Cat replies confidently. "My own personal fortress," she adds.

"Is it true that your towncars are also reinforced with titanium?" James questions.

Cat nods. "Yes, going after a black ops group that uses meta-humans requires one to step up their game, Mr Olsen. Superman helped design the reinforcements and assisted in the construction. By the time my actual contractor arrived he had no idea what had been done. You're only the third person to know about these measures," she points out.

"Does Kara know?" James asks curiously.

Cat glares at him a moment. What exactly is he implying she wonders.

"It's not been discussed," Cat answers sharply, pleased when he seems to shrink at her tone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Crap," Lois exclaims rushing over to her rental car. Looking around quickly before she pulls out into traffic and darting into position to follow the car. After her discussion with Kara, they both realized that their individual conversations with Lena may motivate her to investigate her family on her own. While Kara went to update the DEO, Lois decided to stay and keep an eye on Lena, which is why she is now driving through an industrial part of town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You hacked into L-Corp's emails and phone server?" Kara questions. She arrived at the DEO to update them on Lois' visit to Lena Luthor.

"Yes, we anticipated that you would confront her, so we wanted to observe her reaction," Alex points out.

"So how did she react?" Kara asks.

Alex and Winn take turns outlining Lena Luthor's timeline from the night before after Supergirl confronted her to right now.

"It looks like she's on the move," Winn says pointing to the map on the screen in front of them.

"What was that last phone call?" Alex asks noting the blinking light indicating a call was recorded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A half hour later the car stops in front of a nondescript building.

Lois drives past it and stops in front of the next building.

"Can you find out what is at this address?" Lois barks into the phone as soon as it's answered.

"Lois, you're in National City?" Cat asks surprised.

"Yes, now tell me what is at this address. I just followed Lena Luthor here," Lois explains.

"It's registered to a medical research company owned by a subsidiary of Lord Industries," Cat replies a moment later.

"No sign of anyone else, and it looks like she is entering alone," Lois replies. "I need to get in there," she adds softly.

"Lois dare I point out that it's highly unlikely that you could enter that facility undetected," Cat points out.

"If only I had a way to hear what's going on in there," Lois mutters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm ready. I followed all of your instructions," Lena informs the surgeon.

"Okay, well first we need to repeat the scans and determine what exactly is embedded in the tissue," the neurosurgeon reminds her.

Lena takes a deep breath and looks from Martin, her scientist to the surgeon who works for Lord. She still can't believe that she had to resort to asking Maxwell Lord for help, but at least he hates her mother, so there's no chance that he's colluding with her. She nods for them to proceed.

In another room of the facility, there are technicians working to set up the makeshift operating room. J'onn is telepathically describing the room to Alex and she's guiding him through what he needs to be doing to maintain his cover.

It's obvious to Alex that Lena has decided to have the implant evaluated by her own people. The confrontations with Kara and Lois must have struck a nerve, which means that Lena didn't realize that there was a possibility that the neural link was still active.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lois is startled by the tapping on her window, but smiles in relief when she realizes it's Kara.

"Um, what are you doing here?" Lois asks when Kara climbs into the passenger seat.

"Clark sent me, you weren't answering your phone and he was worried," she explains.

"As you can see, I'm safely sitting here on a pointless stakeout," Lois replies defensively.

"We have an agent in there, you're unnecessarily exposing yourself," Kara remarks.

"You have an agent in there?" Lois asks gesturing behind them to the building that Lena Luthor entered a few hours ago.

"Yes, now let's get out of here before someone spots you," Kara points out.

"What about you? You're not worried about being spotted?" She counters.

"I haven't been here long enough to attract as much attention as you have," Kara observes.

"Valid point, I suppose," Lois concedes as she puts the vehicle in gear and pulls away from the curb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later she asks "Kara what's going on in there?"

"Not here. Drive to CATCO plaza, where we're going is not far from there," Kara explains.

"We can't just drive there?" Lois asks.

"You've already tipped your hand by driving a rental car with GPS, do you really want to keep telegraphing all of your moves?" Kara questions.

"You're as paranoid as Clark," Lois exclaims. "Don't you think that the government collects too much information for any of it to be useful?"

"Not taking any chances," Kara replies firmly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"J'onn is not going to like this Kara," Alex says when she spots Lois Lane sitting in the conference room.

"I had no choice, she was sitting in a rental car near the facility," Kara explains.

Turning to Winn, she says, "Wipe that GPS on her rental." Then turning back to Kara she asks, "Why is she investigating Lena Luthor?"

"She is working with Ms Grant," Kara blurts out.

"Cat Grant is working with Lois Lane?" Alex questions, making sure that she heard correctly.

"Yes, apparently Ms Grant, James and Clark are investigating the Luthors and they've made the connection to Cadmus," Kara replies worriedly.

"Kara, this is way too dangerous for them to be investigating. How has Clark not shut them down?" Alex asks sharply.

"You really think that he can get through to her any better than I can?" Kara protests.

"I guess I was just hoping," Alex admits. "Okay, so how much do they know?"

"That's what you need to find out," Kara retorts. "I've got to get back to CATCO, someone should at least pretend to be working there," she remarks with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's my daughter?" Lillian Luthor asks bursting into Maxwell Lord's office.

"Why on earth would I know where your daughter is?" Max quips amused by the situation.

"I have it on good authority that she has consulted you recently," Lillian explains reluctantly.

"We've had a few interesting conversations lately, but I've referred her to a specialist," Max replies. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting that starts in a few minutes."

"Do not interfere with my family," Lillian growls at him.

"Oh so you consider Lena family now?" Max smirks.

"I raised her, she's mine," Lillian replies angrily.

"Tsk, tsk, Lillian that's not how family works," Max says admonishing her in an infuriating tone before walking off as two of his security team arrive to escort her out of his office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The surgeon is double checking the monitors which indicate the patient should be coming around any moment.

Her eyes flutter open a moment, before a soft groan passes her lips.

"Easy, your head is going to feel heavy and thick," the surgeon reminds her. "But everything went well," he adds.

The nurse offers Lena a cup of ice chips and she takes it carefully into her shaky hands. Carefully holding it up so that she can tip it allowing a few chips to land in her mouth.

"Tell me everything again," Lena gasps. She was awake for most of the procedure making the decision to remove the device herself, but the actual procedure required her to be put under full anesthesia.

"Give yourself some time Ms Luthor," the surgeon suggests carefully.

"I need to know, if it's gone or just deactivated," Lena grunts reaching up to touch the bandage on her head.

"We deactivated it and then removed it," Martin replies from the other side of her bed.

"Do they know yet?" Lena asks.

"I'm not sure that they do. I believe that it wasn't transmitting data actively," Martin explains.

"How did it work?" Lena asks.

"They would have to retrieve the data either through a download or an uplink process," Martin responds carefully.

"That would explain my mother suddenly reappearing in my life," Lena grumbles.

"Ms Luthor, we will need to do a few neurological checks to make sure that the procedure hasn't had any undue consequences," the surgeon remarks.

"Fine," Lena says struggling to sit up.

"Don't," the surgeon cautions placing his hands on her shoulders. "We're just going to do the check and then I'm going to put you back under, it's imperative that you remain immobile for another 12 hours," he reminds her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They were able to remove it and deactivate it," J'onn repeats.

"She didn't know," Kara points out confidently.

"It would appear that you were correct in your assumption," J'onn agrees.

"But now we need to figure out what her family is going to do when they realize they no longer control her," Alex counters.

"Alex is right, they could decide that she is no longer useful to them and well, she wouldn't be the first member of their family to disappear," J'onn remarks.

"Lena has taken the first step to stand up to them, we need to protect her," Kara proclaims.

"I'll put a discrete detail in that area, not enough agents to draw attention, but enough to keep an eye on her," J'onn replies.

Satisfied, Kara nods to them both before stalking down the hall to check on Mon-El.

"There's no change," Dr Hillman says glancing up as the hero enters the med bay. "His system is still fighting off the lead poisoning, which is a good sign, but I'm not sure how much longer it can go," she adds.

"What about my plasma? Alex was going to use it to help him," Kara remarks.

"The tests were inconclusive, there's a chance that introducing your plasma will only make things worse. His antibodies are fighting off the lead poisoning, injecting him with your plasma could mean that they stop fighting the lead poisoning and start fighting your plasma allowing the lead poisoning to overwhelm his system," Dr Hillman explains.

"There has to be something that we can do," Kara exclaims in frustration.

"There is another Daxamite on Earth. She is employed by Triton and stationed in a remote location," Kal-El says entering the med bay.

"Kal-El, I didn't know that you were here," Kara exclaims rushing to him.

"Thank you for taking care of Lois, I had no idea that she was exposing herself to Maxwell Lord," Kal-El replies.

"Of course, she's family," Kara says with a smile. "Oh Winn fixed the GPS in her rental, now it looks like she went from the airport to L-Corp to CATCO," she adds.

"I keep warning her about those GPS systems," Kal-El groans in frustration.

"She seems to forget that she has a higher profile than most civilians, you'd think those Pulitzers would remind her," Kara quips.

"Look, I'm going to get her settled into a DEO safehouse that J'onn has made available to us, then I'll be back so we can talk," Kal-El suggests.

"I'll be here working with Winn to track down that Daxamite you mentioned earlier," Kara promises.


	11. Hard Truths

"I need everything that you have on Triton," Clark says into the phone.

"That file represents years of investigation and it is stored on a heavily encrypted backup drive, you'll have to come to National City, if you want to see it," Cat replies defiantly.

"I'll be there shortly," Clark retorts ending the call.

"Showoff," Cat mutters to herself.

About ten minutes later the security desk informs her that she has a visitor. "Send him up," Cat replies.

"It's not a him Ms Grant. It's a woman, an FBI agent," the security guard replies nervously.

"Show me her badge," Cat says moving the phone from her ear so that she can see the screen. Rolling her eyes, she puts the phone back to her ear. "Fine, send her up."

The elevator ding alerts Cat that her guest has arrived. She flings open her door, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit Agent?"

The slender brunette frowns, "Do you have any idea what you're doing to my investigation?" She snaps striding towards the older woman.

"Which investigation would that be Agent Danvers?" Cat inquires.

Now it's the agent's turn to roll her eyes.

"Cadmus will not hesitate to go after your family to stop you," Alex challenges.

"Then it's a good thing that you're going to stop them before they can," Cat replies.

"Ms Grant, you're putting a lot of faith into what is proving to be a very challenging investigation. Cadmus has been operating under the radar for many years. There are many levels of military and government agencies protecting it," Alex points out carefully, certain that she isn't telling the journalist anything new.

"Well, let me spare you the rest of your lecture," Cat counters and hands the agent a jumpdrive.

"What's this?" Alex blurts out.

"Everything that I have on Lillian Luthor's government contracts. It's quite interesting reading, but a bit too much bioscience for my tastes, perhaps it will be of use to your Cadmus investigation," Cat remarks.

"You've already linked the Luthors to Cadmus," Alex replies. "And you're cooperating with me?" She asks quizzically.

"Of course, I am cooperating. I don't have a deathwish and we are on the same side, are we not?" Cat asks sarcastically. "That is encrypted, but Mr Schott set it up, so I'm sure that he still has the key," she adds.

Her phone buzzes again, Cat picks it up listens a moment. "Send him up."

"Who is coming up?" Alex asks concerned.

"Clark Kent, I believe that you've met," Cat says with a slightly amused look on her face.

"Yes, of course, he is Kara's cousin," Alex replies, wondering how much Cat knows about her sister.

The elevator dings and Cat steps out into the hallway again.

"Clark, I think you know Agent Danvers," she says as he follows her into the room.

"Alex, uh, what are you doing here?" Clark asks.

"I just stopped by to discuss a few things with Ms Grant," Alex answers vaguely.

"Oh, well same here," Clark mumbles.

"I should be going," Alex says a moment later.

"Oh, are you not working together on this?" Cat inquires.

"Not exactly," Alex replies first, but glances at Clark unsure of exactly why he's here.

"Actually Alex, you might want to stay for this. I'm here to get information on Triton, they have a Daxamite in their employ," he explains.

Alex glances at him, a bit surprised that he's speaking so freely about aliens in front of Cat Grant, but then she has the feeling that Cat Grant is more involved in this than she ever realized.

"Cat's known who I am for several years," Clark explains. "I trust her as much as I trust Lois," he adds.

Alex raises her eyebrows at that remark.

"And this doesn't mean that I'm not focused on Cadmus, it just means that there is a mutual friend in need who needs us to locate this Daxamite and convince her to help us save his life," Clark continues.

"This mutual friend wouldn't be the attractive young man that's been hanging around Kara would it?" Cat questions.

Alex turns suddenly, "Why would you think that he's an alien?" She asks.

"Kara mentioned that she was mentoring him and since he's already been fired as an intern at CATCO, it would seem that she's mentoring in another area," Cat points out dryly.

"He was kidnapped by Cadmus and he's been poisoned, Kara is very worried about him," Clark explains.

"I see. Well, the Triton file is open on my laptop if you'd like to peruse it," Cat replies gesturing to her desk.

"Thanks Cat," Clark says sitting down to look it over.

"Clark, let me know if you need my help. I need to get this information back to the, uh, office," Alex replies uneasily, not sure if Cat knows what the DEO is and not wanting to be the one who tells her.

"I'll be there shortly," Clark mumbles as he speed reads the file on Cat's computer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, just how much does Ms Grant know about you and Kal-El?" Alex asks as she enters the DEO to find Kara and Winn working on something.

"Kal-El trusts her completely, so I've sort of been confiding in her a lot lately," Kara admits as Winn gapes like a fish.

"Seriously? We were so careful to keep everything from her and now she just knows it all?" He blurts out.

"She figured out most of it herself," Kara replies with a 'what could I do' shrug of her shoulders.

"We'll talk about this later," Alex says handing the jumpdrive to Winn. "It's encrypted, Ms Grant says that you have the key," she explains.

"Ms Grant gave you an encrypted jumpdrive," Winn gasps. "What's on it?" He asks excitedly.

"All of Lillian Luthor's government contracts, apparently it's heavy on bioscience, so decode it and save it in my folder. I need to start analyzing those contracts, Ms Grant seems to think they might be the key to what Cadmus is up to," Alex explains.

"Does Kal-El know that she's given this to us?" Kara asks.

"Yeah, he is there now working on something with her," Alex supplies.

"Has he located the Daxamite?" Kara inquires hopefully.

"Not yet, but I'm sure he'll let us know when he does," Alex remarks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She doesn't trust easily," Cat remarks after Alex leaves.

"No, but she's loyal to a fault. Don't worry, she'll come around once she gets to know you. The two of you, you're a lot alike," Clark points out.

"I doubt that," Cat quips.

"Kara is lucky to have you both in her life," Clark counters. "I don't think that you realize how much the two of you have influenced and balanced her. Alex spent many years trying to protect Kara and teach her how to manage her power; while you've spent the last few years helping Kara use her strengths and understand her powers."

"Basically, we've been working against each other this whole time," Cat frowns. "It truly is a testament to Kara's abilities that she's managed to have any measure of success." she adds pacing in front of the desk.

"No, you're wrong. Kara has the heart of a hero, our family knew that when she was sent here to protect me," Clark explains. "And everything that the Danvers' family taught her was important for her to learn, but it was just as important for you to step in and balance that out. The reason that Kara saved that plane, was because she had confidence in herself and that came from working for you."

"The browbeating and impossible tasks helped instill confidence in her?" Cat asks skeptically.

"Did you honestly ever ask her to do something that you knew for certain that she couldn't do?" Clark questions.

Cat pauses a moment to consider the question. "Not really, although I have made more than one unreasonable request," she admits sheepishly.

"Unreasonable but not impossible," he clarifies.

"It would have been impossible for anyone but her," Cat admits. "She proved herself to be unusually extraordinary in the first few weeks as my assistant. Honestly, the unreasonableness of my requests merely increased due to her ability to rise to each one."

"Exactly," Clark replies pushing back from the computer. "And that's exactly what she needed to learn. Her abilities are almost unlimited, she had never tested them until she began working for you," he adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lena is missing," Lillian says entering her son's lab.

"Missing or hiding from you?" He quips.

"She's missing and I can't locate her," Lillian replies.

Lex rolls his eyes and then pushes off in his chair over to his desk. Flipping his laptop up, he types quickly and then clicks on a few links. "Her locator has been deactivated," he points out.

"So she knows now what we've been doing?" Lillian questions.

"That is one possibility, the other option is that it's deteriorated and killed her," he counters.

"We need to know which Lex, figure it out!" Lillian barks at her son.

"Are you forgetting that I can't leave the lab?" He snaps.

"Just call her then, she responds better to you than to me," Lillian reminds him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kal-El, I am going with you," Kara replies. "From everything that you've told me about Triton, this Daxamite, she may not be friendly and she may not want to help Mon-El," she reminds him. "But I speak fluently and I may be able to convince her to help."

"Kara, I have more experience with these military organizations and one of us should stay here and protect National City from Cadmus," Kal-El points out.

"I have plenty of experience with military organizations, which is why I am going and you are staying," Kara says grabbing the medical kit from his hands taking off.

"Kara!" Kal-El shouts at her, but he knows that it's no use trying to discuss it once she's made her decision.

"Um, Kar where are you going?" Alex asks after hearing her sister taking off from the deck of the DEO.

"Slight detour, I'm heading to Afghanistan to meet the Daxamite and get her blood donation," Kara answers. "I'll be back in about an hour," she adds ending the call as a sonic boom can be heard in the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't say that I am surprised to see you," Max replies glancing up to see the young woman entering his office. "But I was surprised when your mother stopped by here looking for you," he adds.

"I need some advice on this," Lena answers handing him the hardware that was removed from her brain.

"Interesting device you have here," Max says looking it over. "Just where did you get this?" He asks.

Taking off the scarf wrapped around her head, Lena reveals her bandaged head. "Here," she replies tapping the bandage lightly.

Impressed, Max opens the bag and removes the device laying it out on his desk. Then he pulls open a desk drawer and pulls out a tray of delicate tech tools and begins looking at it more closely.

"Neural transmitter with a GPS locator," he informs her.

"GPS locator, so they were tracking me and controlling me?" Lena questions.

"Not controlling exactly, this type of transmitter is mainly a recording device, it has allowed them to have a front row seat to your life," he explains.

"They weren't controlling me?" Lena asks again.

"Not with this device," Max replies. "Is Martin positive that he removed everything?"

"Yes," Lena declares. "Now about the GPS, is there a way to turn it back on so that they don't know it's been removed?" She questions.

"Hmm, that's a good question," Max responds and pulls out another tool to tinker with the small GPS bit on his desk.

"Well?" Lena asks impatiently after giving him a few minutes.

"No, but if I can determine the frequency I may have something that you could use that would fool them for awhile," he answers. "Let's go to the lab."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara lands carefully and immediately begins scanning the desert compound looking for the Daximite. She spots several aliens, but she isn't sure which one is the one she needs to talk to. She gets an idea and begins to sing the Daximite version of an old Kryptonian folk song. By the time she gets to the second verse the woman reveals herself.

"Kara Zor-El?" She asks in Kryptonian.

Kara nods and extends her hands openly in a show of peace.

"Laurel Gand," the woman replies making the same gesture to Kara.

"I am here on behalf of Mon-El, he has been poisoned and needs your help," Kara begins to explain the situation as she pulls out her phone to show the woman a photo of the man she wants her to help.

"Your Mon-El is a coward and a traitor to his people," Laurel replies angrily.

"What do you mean? The Prince saved him, he didn't choose to leave Daxam," Kara answers.

"That man commandeered a Kryptonian pod to save himself, leaving countless others behind to die on Daxam," Laurel exclaims. "I was sent to follow him but when I arrived he wasn't here."

"He was lost in the Well of Stars and just recently arrived on Earth," Kara retorts.

"Your intentions seem honorable, but he is not worthy of your help," Laurel growls.

"But I don't understand, he may be the only other living Daxamite. Why would you not want to help him?" Kara asks.

"His cowardice cost me my rightful place in Rao's light with my family," Laurel explains.

Kara contemplates this information.

"I believe that he has changed. In fact, he's injured now because he was trying to help me," the hero replies.

"That selfish coward was injured helping you?" Laurel questions.

"Yes and it wasn't the first time that he's tried to help. Several weeks ago, he saved a child during another alien attack," Kara informs her. "Please at least come and meet him before you let him die," she pleads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Maxwell," Cat says greeting him at the door of her penthouse.

"Sorry to just drop in on you, but apparently you've given up your other throne," he quips.

"Yes, well I am currently working on a private matter," she replies as they continue to stand in the hallway.

"Well about that, I am here on behalf of a mutual acquaintance," Max confides.

Intrigued Cat relents and steps back to let him pass into her foyer.

"Who is this mutual acquaintance?" She asks, once the door is closed.

"Lena Luthor," he replies smugly letting it sink in a moment.

"You'd have me believe that Lena Luthor has sought out you for assistance?" Cat inquires with hesitantly.

"It is a rather sensitive matter involving her family," Max offers in way of an explanation.

"Hmm, at least this is starting to make a bit more sense," Cat quips. "What exactly is it that you think I can assist you with Max?"

"Lena Luthor is considering doing a tell all to expose her family," Max teases.

"Right," Cat says dismissively. "Max, why are you really here?"

"Simple, my sources say that you are investigating the Luthors and Lena wants to meet with you," he answers.


	12. Lar Gand

"His name is Lar Gand, the Prince of Daxam," Laurel says as she enters the medical bay and looks at the unconscious patient in the bed.

"So you, um, you know him?" Winn asks curiously.

"Yes, he's my brother, the cowardly Prince of Daxam," Laurel replies harshly.

"Wait, he's your brother and you were just going to let him die?" Kara blurts out.

At the sound of the raised voices, Mon-El stirs, "Kara is everything...Laurel?" He asks looking like he's seen a ghost.

"Yes dear brother, everyone else died valiantly in the Royal Palace with our people, while you fled like a coward," Laurel hisses.

"Then how are you alive? How are you here?" He asks looking at Kara.

"I found her, she's been working as a mercenary, guess that runs in your family," Kara snarks. She still can't believe that Laurel didn't disclose that this was her brother until now.

"It was the only job I could find that would allow me to keep searching for him," Laurel points out nodding to her brother. "And I am here because Father sent me after you. I was to retrieve you and return you to your rightful place on Daxam, where we could all pass into Rao's light together, honorably."

"Laurel, you must believe me. I did not flee. Valor, my guard, tricked me into the pod and sent me off to safety," he pleads with her. Then turning to Kara he adds, "The story that I told you was mostly true, I only lied by saying that I was the palace guard instead of the Prince," he says apologetically.

Kara frowns, this deceit troubles and disappoints her. She understands the confusion of coming out of stasis, but it's difficult for her to justify Mon-El allowing her to believe that he was someone else.

Laurel steps around the bed, "Lar we found Valor dead. Killed by your own sword," she argues.

"He took my sword to fight off one of the Kryptonian invaders," Lar explains glancing at Kara. "But I swear to you both that he did not die by my hand. Valor claimed that the outside panel was jammed, then when I climbed inside he closed the bonnet on me and then used the outside control panel to program it to take me away. He was protecting me, but I swear that I only climbed into that pod so that I could program it to take him to safety," the Daxam protests, but it is obvious that the conversation is weakening him.

J'onn enters the room and Laurel pulls her weapon out, spinning to take him on.

"No Laurel, he is a friend," Kara says stepping in front of J'onn.

"He's a shape-shifter, how can you not know that isn't his body," Laurel replies defensively moving in front of her brother.

J'onn transforms into himself and she flinches again, glancing at her brother for confirmation that the martian is a friend.

"J'onn J'onzz meet Laurel Gand and her brother Lar Gand, the Princess and Prince of Daxam," Winn quips gesturing at the brother and sister.

"Lar Gand is telling the truth," J'onn interjects nodding to both Laurel and Kara. "I've been reading his mind now for weeks and I believe that he didn't kill his guard nor did he flee to save himself."

"J'onn, why didn't you tell me?" Kara asks softly turning to him.

"He was going to tell you himself. It was weighing heavily on him," J'onn answers.

Laurel walks back around the bed, securing her weapon again. Obviously contemplating everything that she's heard.

Kara crosses over to her, "El Mayara," she says softly to the other woman.

"I haven't heard those words in a very long time and never thought I hear a Kryptonian say them to me," Laurel remarks bitterly glancing over to her.

"We are refugees here on earth. Daxam and Krypton are long gone. Our blood bonds us and I would have given your brother my blood except the doctors weren't sure that it would help him," Kara admits.

"You were willing to give him your blood?" Laurel asks looking at the hero before her a long moment considering her.

Kara nods. "I believe that there is a hero in all of us," Kara replies.

At this moment Alex and Dr Hillman enter the med bay and Winn again does the introductions.

They all look at the now sleeping patient in the bed as the doctor checks his vitals.

"He is getting weaker," Dr Hillman points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

J'onn nods to them and gestures for Kara to follow him out to the hall and leave the doctor to talk with Lar's sister.

"Have you discussed everything with her?" J'onn questions.

"Not exactly, just enough to explain why Mon-El is sick and why he needs her blood to heal," Kara answers. "Hopefully she will agree to help him," Kara answers.

"Kara, why did you bring her here if she didn't agree to help him?" J'onn grumbles.

"When I showed her his photo, she was immediately angry and her reaction seemed out of place. I guess that I thought if she saw him, she would change her mind," Kara says nodding towards the med bay.

Alex steps out into the hall. "She's agreed to do it," she says moving past them to get the supplies for the procedure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The GPS signal is working again," Lex announces as he enters his mother's office. "Lena is at L Corp in her office," he adds.

Lillian picks up the phone and quickly calls her daughter.

"Lena Luthor's office," Camille, Lena's executive assistant answers the phone.

"Camille, put me through to my daughter," Lillian demands.

"Uh, I'm sorry Dr Luthor, she's in a meeting and I have strict orders not to interrupt for any reason," the girl replies.

"You tell her to call me the moment that she is available," Lillian barks into the phone before slamming it down angrily.

"She has the nerve to not take my call," Lillian fumes behind her desk.

"It's probably a board meeting, you know how those can be," Lex suggests with an easy smile. "Just wait her out, she'll call."

"She's working with Maxwell Lord," Lillian informs him.

"What do you mean she's working with Lord?" Lex questions, his smile turning into genuine concern.

"I mean that I tracked Martin to an offsite facility owned by Maxwell Lord the other day. He was there off and on for 48 hours and now he's back at L Corp," Lillian replies.

"There could be any number of reasons for Martin to be working off site, but what would a subsidiary of Lord have that Lena would be interested in?" Lex poses the question that they are both thinking.

"What if it's the other way around? What if Lena has something that Lord is interested in?" Lillian asks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me Ms Grant," Lena says entering the penthouse.

"Max said that you wanted to give us some information about your family," Cat replies turning to close the door and follow the girl into the room. "I believe that you know James Olsen, Lois Lane and Clark Kent," she adds introducing the journalists.

"Yes, thank you for arranging this discreetly. Obviously, I couldn't be seen meeting with any of you," Lena points out.

"Your mother is a very dangerous woman Ms Luthor," Clark interjects. "Do have any idea exactly how dangerous she is?" He asks.

"Mr Kent, I believe that I know exactly how dangerous she is," Lena says removing her scarf to reveal her bandaged head. "With Mr Lord's assistance, I was recently able to have a brain implant removed. The same one that my mother and brother told me was removed years ago," she explains.

Lois and Clark exchange knowing glances. 

"Ms Luthor, how do you think that we can help you?" James asks the young woman pointedly.

"I want to help you take my family down. They've continually used and manipulated me. They even implanted a GPS chip in my brain!" Lena confesses.

"If your mother and brother are tracking you, why in gods name would you come here?" Cat asks loudly.

"The GPS was removed and Max has made it portable, so I left it at my office. I swear to you, I wouldn't put you in more danger than you probably already are," Lena promises.

"Lena, how do we really know that we can trust you," Lois questions.

"I understand you're hesitant to trust me because I am not too sure about trusting journalists who have made my life a living hell, but you are my only hope. I can't go to anyone in law enforcement claiming that my family implanted a neural link and GPS tracking device in my brain. No one would believe me, but I think that you do," Lena answers.

"We know that your mother and brother have both filed several patents for those types of devices," Lois remarks.

"And she has a contract with the government from 5 years ago that show she was testing it on meta-humans," Clark adds.

Cat glances from Clark to Lois and then back to Lena. "Have you prepared to have your whole life re-examined after this story is published?" She asks the younger woman.

"I am. I've been writing a memoir and I was hoping that CATCO would consider it for publication," Lena retorts.

Not the response that Cat expected, the media mogul considers what that would mean for her magazine and her family.

"What if the Daily Planet breaks the story and then CATCO publishes the memoir?" James proposes.

"Hmm, that would create two large targets and not even the Luthors would try to take down both companies," Clark points out.

"The Planet and The Tribune could jointly publish the story we all share the byline ," Cat concedes. "Then CATCO magazine will publish the memoir, provided that it's ready for publication," she adds.

Lena hands her a jumpdrive, "I just happened to have brought what I have so far, obviously it's not finished," she remarks dryly.

"Obviously," Cat agrees taking the drive from her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Major Lane?" The Corporal knocks lightly on the JAG office door.

"Yes Corporal Collins?" She responds without looking up from the brief that she's writing.

"Uh, Supergirl is here to see you," the Corporal announces.

Lucy drops her pen and looks up quickly. "Send her in," she replies. Then standing up she moves around the desk.

"Hey, long time no see," Lucy says with an easy smile as the hero enters her office.

"Yeah, too long," Kara says moving in for a quick hug after the door is closed behind her.

"What's going on? I take it this isn't a social call," Lucy remarks.

"No, it's not. I have a package from Lois," the hero says back and pulling the small box out of her boot.

"Not much of a package," Lucy comments as she takes it and opens it.

"It's everything that we have on Cadmus, plus eyewitness testimony that Lex Luthor is working there with his mother," Kara explains.

"Lex Luthor was sentenced to 150 years hard labor at Stryker's Island," Lucy points out.

"Yet he isn't there and his mother has been running Cadmus for years, now the two of them are kidnapping aliens and experimenting on them," Supergirl counters.

"Aliens aren't really protected by the government. Is that who your eyewitness is? An alien?" Lucy questions.

"No, the witness is Lena Luthor and she's going public with everything that she knows about her family," Kara answers. "It's all in there. We just need to know if it's enough for you to get a federal order to shut down Cadmus and release all the aliens into the custody of the DEO."

"Lena Luthor turning on her family sounds like a promising start, but still there isn't a lot of sympathy here for aliens," Lucy remarks sadly.

"There's a lot there Major, the Luthors have been torturing more than just aliens. They've turned injured soldiers in to meta-humans," Kara informs her.

"Sounds like you've been working on this too," Lucy points out.

"I've been to Cadmus and I have seen the meta-human soldiers, they're being used as private security for the compound," Kara counters. "I had to fight them to rescue a friend," she admits.

"I'm sorry. Okay, I'll get to work on this today and I'll let Lois know if I need anything else, but if everything that you've said is substantiated in this file, I should be able to get the court order first thing tomorrow morning," Lucy proclaims.

But why are you bringing this to me. Usually she has Superman handle this stuff for her?" Lucy asks.

"Well, it's a joint effort between The Daily Planet and The Tribune. James, Lois, Clark and Cat have been working on this together," Kara explains.

"Cat and Lois working together," Lucy exclaims, "Never thought that I'd see the day," she adds with a chuckle.

"Contact them if you need anything else," Kara says turning to leave.

"Kara, um, how's Alex?" Lucy asks nervously.

"She is really good. But when all this is over ... I think that she would love to hear from you," Kara replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He's getting stronger," Dr Hillman replies as she and Alex step in to examine Lar again. "How are you feeling?" She asks Laurel.

"I'm fine," she replies flatly.

"Your blood saved his life," Alex points out. 

"How fitting," Laurel remarks. "You know all this time I've been so angry with him. Positive that he'd not taken our planet's destruction seriously and just took off leaving us all behind," she adds.

"Have you thought about staying here with your brother?" Alex inquires.

"I don't know that I can. I have commitments to Triton," Laurel replies with a distant look in her eyes.

"How did you get involved with Triton," Alex asks.

At the question, Laurel stands up and walks around the room uneasily.

"They offered to protect me from those who would harm me," Laurel answers finally.

"Cadmus," Alex replies.

Laurel flinches at the word. "I don't want to discuss that organization," she insists.

"Triton is a part of Cadmus," Alex points out. "And we're going to take them both down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mother," Lena exclaims looking up to see her mother entering her office. Security had already informed her that she was on the way up.

"Darling, I've been trying to get a hold of you for days. Is everything alright?" Lillian asks feigning concern.

"Everything is fine Mother. I've just been working on a new endeavor," Lena remarks.

Lillian considers the girl for a moment, noting that she's wearing a scarf around her head. It looks quite fashionable, but she can't help but wonder if it's more strategic than fashionable.

"Ms Luthor, your appointment is here," Camille says interrupting them as Kara Danvers enters the room.

"Should I wait outside?" Kara asks politely.

Lillian turns to look at the reporter, whom she knows is also Supergirl. "No, I was just leaving," she remarks. "But I'll stop by your place later, we have a few things to discuss."

Kara steps aside to let her pass and then closes the door behind her.

"That was close, Kara. Thank you," Lena says sitting back in her chair relieved.

"I'm glad that I was in the area," Kara remarks neutrally. 

The two woman face each other for the first time knowing that they are working on the same side.

"I could tell by the way she looked at me that she knows who I am," Kara remarks.

"Well, she also knows everything that happened between us," Lena admits anxiously biting her lip.

"Ah right, well that's not awkward at all," Kara says awkwardly.

"They weren't controlling me," Lena states before standing up and walking around the desk.

"I, uh, I never said that they were," Kara stammers.

"No, but you were thinking it," Lena offers.

Kara looks away. She has wondered about it.

"Lena, about that. I don't think that it's a good idea for us to, uh, get close like that," Kara explains anxiously.

Leaning against her desk, Lena considers the reporter a moment. "Is this because of the story that is about to break?" She asks.

"No, but I just, I like you but not like that," Kara admits finally.

"Oh," Lena didn't expect her to be quite so honest about it. "But you did kiss me back," she points out.

"It was a lovely night and we both were caught up in the moment," Kara counters.

Lena nods her head in agreement. She supposes that there is a lot of truth in that statement, but judging by the look in Kara's eyes, there's something else behind it.

"What you're really saying is that there is someone else that you're more interested in," Lena remarks turning to walk out to her balcony for fresh air as she considers who it could be.

"I didn't say that," Kara says following her outside.

"You didn't have to, I can tell that you're worried that what happened between us will cause you problems with her or is it him?" Lena questions.

Kara flushes embarrassed by the conversation. "Uh, you know I need to head out now, but I will check in on you later," Kara offers.

"I'll be fine, Ms Grant has helped me arrange for a new security detail," Lena replies.

Kara nods, she knows for a fact that the security detail is comprised of DEO agents. 

"Stay safe Lena," she says before turning to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Almost to end of this one, if you can't tell I really hate the Mon-El storyline on the show. I think they just wanted a new love interest for SG, but they premise is so lame, he just comes across as the flavor of the week. It's frustrating how they do so many things really well, but then they just add in DC characters willy nilly. Don't get me started on the clunky Cyborg Superman storyline they threw at us without any origin story or background.
> 
> I know there hasn't been much SuperCat interaction, my plan was that they both would be realizing their feeling independently, but then plot happened and it's been an almost non-existent slowburn ... but it is endgame.


	13. It's Going Down

Leaving Lena's office, Kara heads back to CATCO. The story that Snapper assigned her the day before is still waiting to be researched and written, the deadline is looming and she hasn't even began to work on it. Rushing into her cube, she doesn't notice the message light blinking on the phone on her desk. She grabs her laptop and folder planning to head up to her secret office to work when she hears Snapper voice.

"Ponytail, nice of you to show up this afternoon to your job," he bellows. "Now where are you on that follow up piece to L-Corp's alien detector?"

"You didn't ask me to do a follow up piece on that," Kara answers confused. "Pelicans dying at the landfill is what you assigned me and I've been out researching it," she adds, which isn't technically a lie, she did fly over the landfill twice today and noted the dead birds.

"You should always assume that there is a follow up piece to an exclusive like that," he chides her. "Now who have you interviewed about the Pelican story?"

"N-no one yet," she stammers nervously, trying to think of who she should have contacted by now.

"Who are you planning to interview?" Snapper presses again rolling his eyes at the novice reporter.

"I've got a call into the Sanitation department, you know we just did that story and they could be related. The illegal dumping at the landfill could be causing the birds to get sick and die," Kara answers thinking quickly.

"Hmm, not bad Danvers. Now you're thinking like a reporter," he remarks before walking off.

Sinking back down into her chair, Kara notices the message light on her phone and reaches out to pick up the receiver. Quickly she punches in her pass code and is surprised to hear Cat's voice asking her to come by tonight. Her stomach flips at the sound of Cat's voice saying that she needs to talk to her. Distracted, Kara doesn't even wonder why Cat left the message on her work phone and didn't just text or call her cell.

Trying not to think about everything else that's going on helps Kara to focus on the story at hand and she decides to follow up with the sanitation department just as she told Snapper that she was already doing. Making a few more calls she sets up interviews for the following afternoon and prays that she'll be able to make time for them. Glancing at the clock, she has just enough time to run to her apartment and freshen up before meeting with Ms Grant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sending off a quick text just to let Cat know that she's on her way but running a little late, Kara looks up surprised to see a black town car approaching her. Confused, Kara walks over to the car and the window rolls down revealing a pissed off Cat Grant.

"In the car now, Kara." She snaps.

Kara quickly opens the door and climbs in, the apology on her lips fades as she discovers that she is face to face with Lex and Lillian Luthor. Glancing over worriedly at Cat, when suddenly Cat transforms into an orange alien in a robe with a large head. Kara immediately recognizes it as a Durlan, but before she can react, Lex has snapped a pair of Kryptonite handcuffs across her arms and snatched her phone.

"Well, well Supergirl, it's about time that we've met," he replies smugly as the car begins moving.

They get a few blocks when Lex signals to the driver to pull over. He motions for the Durlan to get out of the car and Kara can see that they're heading to the interstate. Lillian follows the alien out of the car and pulls out a small taser like weapon. Kara hears the zap and then the body falls to the ground. She is even more worried now, if the Luthors have figured out how to control a Durlan and kill it, then they have amassed a dangerous amount of data on aliens.

Lex tosses Kara's phone out of the open door before Lillian climbs back in and the car begins moving again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat looks at the message again from Kara. Why would Kara think that she wanted to see her tonight? Curious, Cat calls her back, but the phone goes straight to voicemail. Worried, she contacts Clark and quickly fills him in. Together they realize that most likely the Luthors have used Cat to kidnap Kara, which means that they also know that she is Supergirl. Clark ends the call abruptly and Cat stares at her phone unwilling to believe that it's true. The Luthors have somehow kidnapped Kara by tricking her into thinking that Cat wanted to see her.

Worriedly, Cat calls James next and fills him in on what's happened. He agrees to come right over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Superman called Alex to tell her what happened, Alex had Winn trace Kara's phone. It came back to an empty lot a few blocks from Kara's apartment. She called Maggie immediately.

"Danvers, I have a dead alien here and what I think is your sister's phone," Maggie says as soon as Alex answers the phone.

"Secure the scene. I'll be right there," Alex blurts out, she was already on her way to Kara's apartment, so it only takes her a few minutes to get to the scene. Maggie waves her over and watches as Alex bends down to look at the alien. "We have a witness that says it was shoved out of a black town car about ten minutes ago," she explains.

"It's a Durlan, they're shape shifters. They must have used it to lure Kara into the car," Alex remarks as she picks up Kara's phone and turns it back on.

"How long has she been missing?" Maggie questions, watching Alex trying to guess the passcode to her sister's phone.

"Maybe thirty minutes, we're not sure. She sent Cat Grant a text saying that she was going to be a few minutes late, but Cat says that they didn't have plans. And she still hasn't shown up at Cat's place," Alex explains. Reaching up to tap her earpiece, she quickly relays what she's found to Winn and J'onn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weak from the Kryptonite handcuffs, Kara groans when the car stops suddenly throwing her against the door.

"Time to fly Supergirl," Lillian teases as she opens the car door to reveal that they are going to transfer into a helicopter.

"Help get her into the chopper," Lex barks at the driver before he steps out of the car himself.

The driver sees the young woman and is confused as to what the Luthors are doing kidnapping people off the street. But he likes his job, so he grabs her arm and hauls her out of the car. Kara staggers and drops to her knees.

"For god's sake, just pick her up then," Lillian exclaims dramatically.

The driver bends down to lift the girl, but he's surprised at how heavy she is. She stirs a little when he lifts her and he almost drops her as she shifts in his arms. He grumbles at her before laying her down roughly on to the floor of the chopper.

The chopper lifts off, but Kara remains still as she focuses on her breathing. Her strategy is to fake accelerated Kryptonite poisoning to see if she can get them to lower the exposure enough that she can get her powers back.

"Lex, are you sure that she's okay?" Lillian asks as she bends down to check the girl's pulse. Worried that it is weak and slow, she glances up at her son.

"She's fine Mother, I calibrated those cuffs myself," he reminds her.

"Yes, but you did that off the assumption that she is stronger than Superman, what if you're wrong. Look at her, she is clearly in distress and she will be no good to us dead," Lillian reminds him.

Lex undoes his seatbelt and leans over her to check for himself. Kara moans lightly for effect and nervously, he decides to undo one of the cuffs but he clasps it to the chair base. "Happy?" He asks Lillian sarcastically.

Now with one hand free and her hands hidden under the chair, she pulls out the pen that she stole from the driver and begins to take it apart and try to pick the lock on the handcuff. Above her, the mother and son continue to bicker over what they're doing next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I want every CATCO Chopper in the air looking for that town car," Cat yells at James who has the news director on the phone cradled against his chest.

"Cat, in this city a black town car is going to be difficult to pin point, we need more to go on," James points out.

"I don't care. I want every one of them out looking for anything unusual, surely they can manage that task?" She quips sarcastically.

James pulls the phone up to his ear and makes the request. Ending the call, he clears his throat to say something else.

Cat pinches the bridge of her nose before holding her hand out to stop him from talking.

"James, if you are about to point out something obvious about how it will look for me to be reacting this way to Kara Danvers being kidnapped, don't. I would likely react this way if it were you," she points out.

James considers this a moment, when his phone rings again. "One of our pilots has reported that a helicopter just took off from near the highway," he remarks. "Tell him to follow it discreetly," James says into the phone.

Cat grabs her own phone and immediately relays the information to Alex.

Alex in turn clicks on her comms. "J'onn a CATCO pilot has just reported seeing a helicopter taking off from a grassy area near highway 110, there was a black town car leaving the area," she relays to him.

"I'll check it out," J'onn says taking off from the deck of the DEO.

J'onn is joined in the air by Superman. They fly side by side for a few minutes before the man in blue spots a CATCO helicopter. J'onn rushes past it to see if there is another chopper in front of them, but it's not the right one. He shakes his head and they decide to split up to track down another one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She'll be okay Cat," James says crossing the room trying to reassure her.

"I need information, James, not meaningless platitudes," Cat snaps at him.

James steps back and pulls out his phone.

"Hey, any news yet?" He asks.

"Ah, not yet, turns out there are a lot of helicopters out there right now," Winn points out.

"Right, well when they find the right one, they can force it to land though?" James questions.

"Not exactly," Winn replies, "But we're putting a plan together," he adds.

Laurel and Lar step up behind him and ask what is happening. Winn carefully explains that Kara's been taken and they are tracking them now.

"These are the same people who took me?" Lar questions.

"Yes Mon, I mean Lar," Winn catches himself and still can't believe that the guy is a prince. His sister is insanely hot although also a little scary and intense.

"We should offer assistance," Laurel points at the screen.

"Uh, no you both should stay here. Superman and J'onn are responding and we have two more teams who just headed out to assist them," Winn explains as he swivels back around to see the two Daxamites are no longer standing there behind him.

"Great, it is official...no one listens to me," he grumbles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the helicopter, Kara has managed to pick the lock on the other cuff and although she is feeling better without any of the Kryptonite touching her skin, her powers are still dulled. Glancing up, she can tell that they're over the desert now, the heat radiates through the metal floor of the aircraft. The two Luthors haven't spoken in almost ten minutes, apparently agreeing to disagree on how to proceed. Lex wants to use more Kryptonite to weaken her, but Lillian thinks that they should force the hero to solar flare and then once she's powerless they can run any number of tests on her.

"She won't willingly do that mother, so it's not even a viable option," Lex argued.

"I think she will be willing once we get to the lab," Lillian replies confidently.

"What have you done Mother?" Lex asks angrily. "I told you to leave my sister out of this."

"She was willing to help," Lillian informs him. "You shouldn't underestimate her Lex."

Kara tries not to react, but she can't believe that Lena would help them kidnap her. Alex was right, Lena was part of the plan the whole time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

J'onn spots the helicopter flying over the desert floor and he backs off a bit so that he can call it in. A few minutes later and Superman has joined him and they watch as the aircraft begins to descend. The desert floor opens up and then they realize what's happening, they both take off quickly to follow the chopper below ground but as they get close the panel disappears and they land on the desert floor.

Frustrated, Superman swears lightly in Kryptonian earning a rare smile from J'onn J'ones. "We'll find a way in there," he promises.

A few minutes later two DEO blackhawks arrive and descend slowly.

Agent Vasquez approaches first. "Where did it go?" She asks.

"Below ground," J'onn grumbles.

Vasquez taps her earpiece, "Agent Schott a little help here, the chopper landed below ground. How do we get in?"

"Let me just zero in on that area," Winn replies carefully.

"How did they get here?" J'onn asks as Laurel and Lar approach.

"We caught a ride on that aircraft," Lar replies pointing to the second blackhawk.

"What is the situation?" Lauren questions.

"Okay, okay here's something. Fifty yards from you due east, there's an outcropping of rock," Winn shouts into the comms.

"I see it," Superman replies.

"There's a hidden access panel there, but if you use it to open the floor they'll know you're coming," Winn points out.

"Is there a failsafe access point?" Agent Vasquez asks.

"Yes, it's on the other side of the outcropping. If you can get into it, we can hack it open," Winn replies to her.

"On it," the agent says grabbing her tech bag and heading that direction.

"I'm going to assist," J'onn says following her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"James, I've been trying to get a hold of Kara but her phone is off. Alex isn't answering either, what's going on?" Lucy asks when he answers his phone.

"Kara's missing. We're pretty sure that she's been taken to Cadmus," James replies.

"Kara is missing? What would Cadmus want with Kara Danvers?" Lucy asks.

"Apparently they know who she is," James points out.

"Okay, well I'm headed to National City with a federal warrant for Lex and Lillian Luthor. Can you get word to the DEO that I'm on my way and I'll alert the National Guard that we may need to support the DEO in the apprehension of the Luthors," Lucy counters.

"That was Lucy, she got the federal warrant to shut down Cadmus," James informs Cat.

Sinking down into a chair, Cat feels hopeful that just maybe they will get Kara back in one piece. She shudders at the thought of what Lillian Luthor may have planned for the hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara is staring at Lena Luthor standing beside her mother. She still can't believe the betrayal. Kara hates that everyone was right about her being too trusting.

"You can't force me to do it," Kara spits out defiantly.

"No, but we can make it seem like the better option," Lillian replies pulling out a syringe of Kryptonite. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way Ms Danvers, it's up to you," she adds menacingly.

Remembering the pain that Asta endured from the Kryptonite injections that General Lane put her through. Kara hesitates to put herself through it. She knows that Astra was stronger of the two of them.

Lena saunters over to her and holds up the face shield. "You'll be happy to know that I've made some enhancements to your prototype Mother," she says over her shoulder staring directly into Kara's eyes.

Kara almost gasps as she recognizes the look in Lena's eyes. She is silently begging the hero to trust her.

"Excellent decision Kara," Lena says as she slips the shield over the blonde's head and into place.

Lillian then nods to the guard to remove the Kryptonite cuffs as Kara takes a deep breath to prepare for whatever is going to happen next.

As soon as Kara begins to use her heat vision she feels an immediate change in her power. Instead of feeling weaker, she is begins gaining power exponentially. The more she expends the more her power increases.

Lena steps back quickly before the shield bursts into flames.

"What the hell have you done?" Lillian cries out in alarm.

Kara rips off the damaged shield and moves towards the older woman. "You're done hurting aliens Dr Luthor," she exclaims.

Lillian pulls out a small device and points it at the hero but Kara zaps it with her heat vision and it explodes, injuring the doctor's hand.

Lex enters the lab and quickly realizes the danger. He pulls out his own weapon, but Kara's too fast for him. She disarms him immediately and then crashes the two of them together.

"Cuff them," she barks at the guard.

He drops the cuffs and runs off instead.

Kara picks up the cuffs and quickly Lena grabs another pair from the other guard. The two work together to cuff them back to back.

"How did you know they were going to kidnap me?" Kara asks.

"My mother called me and invited me out to dinner," Lena replies.

Kara looks at her confused for a moment, before Lena continues to explain.

"She's only nice to me when she wants something," Lena points out. "Then it was just a matter of convincing her that I choose family first," the brunette adds walking around the room. "And it helped that a certain investigative reporter provided me with the patents on all of Mother's inventions. When I saw this design, I knew exactly what it was for. So I inserted an inversion panel, instead of absorbing your heat vision to deplete it, the panel reflected it back to you to strengthen you," she explains smugly.


	14. Epilogue (AKA The Big Gay Finish)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know that people were a little frustrated that this got plot heavy with little shipping interaction, so hope that this helps make it worth your while. Thanks for reading this one!
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They'll be held in different federal facilities thousands of miles apart," Lucy promises her.

Kara smiles in relief. "Thanks to you, we won't have to worry about Cadmus any longer," she adds before stepping in and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman.

"How's Jeremiah?" Lucy questions.

"Good I guess, the three of them are in the med bay working to save as many of the aliens as they can," Kara replies.

"That's great, well I should be going. I suddenly have a very important case to work on," Lucy points out with a grin.

"Hey, don't be a stranger. We miss you around here," Kara says looping an arm around her to walk her out.

"Thanks Kara. I am just glad that I was able to help. It makes being so far away a little easier," Lucy admits.

"Alex is going to be sorry that she didn't get to say goodbye," Kara adds.

"Well, tell the agent that..." Lucy begins to say.

"Tell the agent what exactly, Major?" Alex interrupts crossing the floor quickly to catch up to them.

"Hey Agent," Lucy says turning around at the sound of her voice.

"Good work Luc," Alex says pulling her in for a hug. "But you don't get to leave without saying goodbye," she adds.

Surprised by the contact, Lucy returns the hug and quips, "When did you become so soft?"

"I'm not soft. I am appreciative. Thanks to you, my sister is back and my father is safe," Alex points out.

"Technically, your sister is safe because of Lena Luthor," Lucy counters.

"Still trying to wrap my head around that," Alex admits sheepishly.

"So who's the hottie over there staring daggers at me?" Lucy asks nodding towards a certain detective.

"Uh, well that's Maggie Sawyer," Alex replies motioning to the detective to come over.

"Detective Maggie Sawyer meet Major Lucy Lane," Alex says introducing them.

The two petite brunettes take a long look at each other before shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you Detective," Lucy replies. "As former director of the DEO, let me just ask that you take good care of this one, she can be a handful."

"I've noticed," Maggie quips with a big smile.

"I am not a handful," Alex protests as Lucy gives her a quick hug goodbye.

"I've got to go, nice meeting you," Lucy adds waving to both of them as Kara walks her out.

"That's hot," Lucy says nodding over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I always thought that it would be you and Alex," Kara says.

"Well, if I was so inclined, your sister would have definitely been the one," Lucy says laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I would have called but I don't have a phone right now," Kara says when Cat opens the door for her.

Cat steps back to let her in and Kara follows her, unsure of what more to say.

"I'm just happy that you are safe. I understand that Lena Luthor is to thank for that," Cat replies trying to keep her emotions in check as she pours more scotch into her glass.

"It was your investigation that saved me Cat," Kara points out stepping closer to her.

Cat moves away from her, not trusting herself to not throw her arms around her and kiss her senselessly.

"Well, I'm sure that you should be out celebrating with someone special," Cat deflects instead, turning to take a long sip from her glass.

Kara crosses the room to stand in front of her.

"We can't keep doing this Cat," she says her voice breaking slightly betraying her emotions. "How many more chances do you think we'll get to get this right?"

Cat looks up surprised by the outburst and the emotion. But she's still not sure what the girl means.

Encouraged, Kara continues. "You are the someone special to me Cat. I don't know for sure if I am that to you, but you are that to me," she replies honestly as she steps even closer and takes the glass from Cat's hand.

"Oh Kara," Cat exclaims covering her mouth and closing her eyes.

Kara misunderstands her response, but she continues undeterred. "You are probably thinking that this is just a reaction to everything that's happened. But we've been circling this for months, maybe even longer," Kara points out. "After everything that happened with Myriad, I thought that we were going to figure this out. I thought that there was something here," she says gesturing to the space between them.

"I was trying to do the right thing Kara. For once in my life, I was trying not to be selfish. You deserve that much after everything that's happened," Cat counters taking a step back and turning towards the balcony.

"What if I want to be selfish for once," Kara questions stepping in closer to her and reaching up to touch her shoulder.

Cat flinches at the contact. "You don't have a selfish bone in your body," she replies breathlessly.

Kara turns her around and cups her chin. "Right now it feels selfish to want this. With you." She declares leaning in to kiss her.

"Kara, you..." Cat's words are cut off as Kara slides her arms around her and pulls her closer to deepen the kiss.

Cat pulls back a moment to look at her and Kara almost thinks that she's made a mistake in this, but before she can pull away, Cat pulls her back in and mutters, "Oh hell, I'm an idiot."

"A beautiful idiot," Kara exclaims smiling into the kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So tell me about you and Major Lane," Maggie says as they each grab a beer from the bartender.

"Nothing to tell. She was temporary director and we worked together," Alex replies. "And she's not gay."

"Says the shiney new gay," Maggie teases.

"Oh if she'd ever looked at me the way you looked at me, I'd have figured this out a lot faster, trust me," Alex promises setting her beer down and pulling Maggie in close.

"I never looked at you like that," Maggie protests, pushing her away playfully.

"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that Sawyer," Alex replies with a smirk as she slips some quarters into the pool table.

"I'm gonna beat you this game," Maggie promises.

"Oh right, because suddenly you've figured out the angles?" Alex jokes.

"What if I've always had the angles but I just didn't want you to know," Maggie jests.

"Wait are you serious right now?" Alex asks unsure about what this means.

"One way to find out," Maggie replies shooting her a dangerous smile as she takes off her jacket and picks up pool cue.

"Oh no, you've been playing me this whole time?" Alex blurts out as she watches Maggie hit a perfect break and sink three balls at once.

"Oh this isn't over," Alex fumes playfully as she sets down her beer and takes off her own jacket.

Maggie sinks another combination shot and smirks. "This is just the beginning Danvers."


End file.
